The Not so Noble House of Rostov
by Deedee9615
Summary: There are many pureblood wizard families of wizards in the world. One such family is the Rostov family from Russia, the family of Catalina Rostov. Their past is dark, their personalities are deadly. Come along as Catalina and her cousins grow up, trying to break free of their family's reputation, make their own marks in the world, and find out what they want in life... and love.
1. In the Beginning

**Disclimer: I, Devin Ebony, do not own the Harry potter Series. The only things in this story that I in anyway own Is Catalina and the majority of her family.**

**September 1, 1971**

The clock ticked the minutes off until the Hogwarts Express would be leaving, taking Catalina Rostov with it for her first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Though this was an exciting day for any witch or wizard, Lina was practically terrified of going. She felt as though she was going to let her parents down or upset them so much that they would immediately disown her. The only way they would do that, she supposed, was if she was sorted into Gryffindor or Hufflepuff; the only problem there was she kind of wanted to be a Gryffindor. Her brother, Michael, hadn't received too joyous of a response upon being sorted into Ravenclaw. She didn't even want to think about what they would do if she actually did get sorted in to Gryffindor House. Sure, she would be happy at first, because she had a feeling she would love that house. Then what, though? She'd have to deal with her parents' hatred for seven years until she could get out of the house.

Catalina's whole family, minus three or four Ravenclaws, had been Slytherin. To break that tradition would not only upset her parents, but the rest of her family as well. The only thing that really mattered to her family blood and money. They had been one of the many Pureblood families in Russia, but after the fights began breaking out amongst the families almost a century ago, her family had begun relocating to the UK. That was where Catalina, her siblings, and her cousins had been born. From the second that the Rostov family began entering Hogwarts, they'd all been sorted into Slytherin. Then as the rise of Voldemort had begun, they'd all followed in his footsteps (minus the few who had been disowned). Her family had the same Ideals and beliefs towards Muggle borns and Muggles. This was a belief that Catalina and some of her cousins did not share, but did not dare go against for fear of what their family might do to them.

Boarding the Train, Lina was anxious to find her older cousin, Larisa. Larisa had been born on September 3rd, just days after the cutoff date. Lina, herself, had been born near the end of August, just barely making it into her first year. She was rather glad the way it had worked out, seeing as she would have Larisa to cling to for the first year at Hogwarts; she wouldn't be completely alone. Isa, as Larisa preferred to be called, had always been her closest cousin both in age and in general. She did suppose, however, that it kind of sucked for her cousin, being stuck with some students nearly a year younger than you.

"LINA!" A voice shrieked over the crowd, causing the girl in question to jump slightly. A tall girl, who Lina immediately recognized as her cousin, was shoving through the crowd. Isa's head was visible over the crowd of first years and she towered nearly all of them. She'd always been tall for her age, and the fact that she is nearly twelve didn't help her case any. Isa didn't seem to mind her tallness then as she was plowing her way through all of the much shorter first years to find her younger cousin.

"Merlin, Isa. Must you be so loud?" Lina called with a roll of her eyes, as she attempted to shove her way down the corridor and pulling her trunk along behind her.

"Well. I didn't know you were right there, Princess." She retorted, "I found a compartment, though! It has another girl sitting is in it... but we'll survive, I suppose." She shrugged, making her way back. and pulling Lina's trunk from her hands

"Hey-" Lina weakly protested, but it was to late for that. Isa had already dragged it to the compartment and was shoving in. They made it just in time to see another boy also coming into the compartment. He had pale, sickly skin and slightly greasy looking black hair. Lina didn't want to say he was ugly or anything, but he wasn't exactly all the best looking bloke on the train. In fact, he rather scared her with the mean looking expression her wore. Inside, the compartment there were two others besides the girl that Isa had mentioned. Lina raised an eyebrow in question, but Isa shrugged, dealing with Lina's trunk and sitting down next to the two boys on the other side of the compartment. With a sigh, Lina flopped down on the opposite side, closest to the door and was absorbed in her thoughts until she heard a disbelieving yell come from one of the other boys.

"Slytherin?" The messy haired boy asked incredulously, "Who wants to be in Slytherin? I think I'd Leave, wouldn't you?" He questioned to the other boy. At that moment Lina had to resist the urge to smack him. Despite not really wanting to be a Slytherin, her mother was a Slytherin and she still loved her dearly. She also knew that Isa wouldn't take to well to that, either, considering how many of their family members were Slytherins.

"My whole family has been in Slytherin." The other boy commented dryly.

"Blimey," said the first one, "and I thought you seemed all right!" This gained a grin from the other

"Maybe I'll break the tradition. Where are you heading, if you've got the choice?"

The messy haired lifted an invisible sword.

" 'Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart!' Like my dad." The greasy haired one made a small, disparaging noise, causing the boy to turn to him. "Got a problem with that?"

"No," said the greasy haired one commented, though his slight sneer said otherwise. "If you'd rather be brawny than brainy —"

"Where're you hoping to go, seeing as you're neither?" one of the others interjected, electing laughs from the other boy. The poor redheaded girl hopped up, dragging the other with her.

"Come on, Severus, let's find another compartment."

"Oooooo . . ." The two boys mocked her as she walked away

"See ya, Snivellus!" one of the called down the corridor.

"So, what are your names?" Isa finally asked after a moment of silence, glancing at the two boys next to her.

"James Potter." The messy haired one replied.

"Sirius Black." The other stated. Lina made a face of disgust, which she thought had gone unnoticed by him, luckily.

"I'm Isa and this is my cousin, Lina." She introduced, gesturing to her cousin, who was still huddled up in the corner near the door.

"So, what houses do you two want to be in?" James questioned.

"I know Lina's gonna end up in Slytherin." Isa shot, smirking and kicking her cousin lightly from across the compartment.

"Sod off. We know that you'll be the Slytherin, Larisa." Lina returned, rolling her eyes jokingly.

"Larisa, is it now? Alright then, Catalina." She mocked, "Really, though... I'm kind of hoping for Gryffindor to annoy my parents, but I'll probably end up in Ravenclaw. Lina will annoy her parents with any house other than Slytherin, though."

"I'd rather be a Gryffindor over any of those other houses, but knowing my parents, I'll get disowned straight away if I'm anything but a Slytherin or Ravenclaw. Ravenclaw is just barely accepted, too." She explained, shaking her head gloomiy and wishing that her family could just be more accepting. That wasn't something that would happen anytime soon, though.

"So that's why you made a face when I said my name?" Sirius said with a smirk, "Your family is like mine, one of the purblood, muggle hating maniacs."

"You saw that- Oh uhmm..." Lina Trailed off, her cheeks turning a bright red color, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to seem so rude; my parents are always talking about your family, though. They keep talking about how they should Marry off my brother to one of you guys, or something. Narcissa, I believe her name is?" She rambled on, trying not to offend the boy any farther.

"Don't worry about it, Cat." Sirius waved his hand, trying to end her mindless ramblings.

"Cat?"

**Hogwarts Castle sorting Ceremony:**

"Black, Sirius" Sirius made his way up the stool and hat, a smirk on his face. The hat appeared completely silent for a few minutes before it finally yelled, "GRYFFINDOR!" The hall was stunned into silence.

"Cresswell, Dirk" and "Crouch, Baremius" were sorted before the next person that Cat recognized went up.

"Evans, Lily" The redhead that Isa and Cat had seen on the train went up, looking slightly nervous. The hate immediately shouted out "Gryffindor!" Cheers rang out through the Great hall. Cat did not miss the Serverus boy's groan, however.

A few more went up, going to Slytherin, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw, before "Lupin, Remus" became the next Gryffindor, followed by "Macdonald, Mary", "McKinnon, Marlene", and "Pettigrew, Peter".

"Potter, James" was called and Cat barely even paid attention, knowing that the messy haired boy would be "Gryffindor!" Two more Gryffindors came from the sorting before finally she heard:

"Rostov, Catalina" ring throughout the hall. Cat slowly made her way up the steps to the stool, settling down and feeling the hat placed on her head.

"Another Rostov, I see. Your family will be quite numerous in Hogwarts in the next few years, am I right? Well, on with your sorting, Ms. Catalina." she immediately corrected him for use of her full name, "Well then, Cat. Let's see... You're ambitious, and cunning. You would make a good Slytherin. I don't think that is your house though. You are smart, and Loyal but not hardworking. I'd say that rules out Hufflepuff. So that's it... Ravenclaw or Gryffindor." Cat paused thinking about it. It wasn't her choice, but she couldn't help but think. If she was a Ravencalw, her mum could get over it... She didn't want to be a Ravenclaw, though. She didn't care what her family thought anymore. "That's the answer to that question then, my dear." To the rest of the hall it shouted its final answer "GRYFFINDOR!"

Cat, hopped down, handing the hat back and ran for the cheering table. She was so happy, that she didn't even pay attention the dark look that her cousin was giving her as she ran on. She knew how Cat's parents would react, as did Cat. Right now, though, she was too happy to care. She was in the house that she wanted to be in, and her parents would have to get over it. Even her brother was smiling and clapping for her, so how mad could her parents be?

"Rostov, Larisa" The hat was on her cousin's head for less than a second before it shouted- "Ravenclaw!"

**June 30, 1972**

"Catalina Cassiopeia Rostov! How could you be sorted in to Gryffindor? What were you thinking.. THE SHAME! You horrible little brat! To your room! Go! I don't want you in my presence! GO!" Cat high-tailed it up the steps, forgetting about the question she was going to ask her parents. There was no way that they were going to let her go anywhere with her friends now, was there?

"I don't want her in my house, Morgan! She's going to amount to nothing more than a filthy little blood traitor! If only I was as cruel as my father and Grandfather, I would teach the little brat a lesson! She would learn her place, just like my aunts Larisa and Sonya did!"

"IVAN! You do realize what you just said, don't you? You're talking about killing our own daughter! I know that you don't want her to be Gryffindor, and as understandable as that is, she is still your child-"

"THAT THING IS NO CHILD OF MINE!" A Voice roared, shaking the mansion and vibrating off of walls, "As soon as she turns Seventeen, She's gone! I'm done with her! She'll be disowned, and I never want to see her face again." Cat bit her lip as her father screamed, the conversation seemingly ending.

"Catalina?" A woman's stern voice called, "Open your door, now." She ordered. Cat made no move to open it, and a click was heard from the door. "Do you have a friend's house that you can go to, Catalina? Just for a few weeks?" Cat thought about it and bit her lip.

"She's Muggleborn, mum, that would only-" The woman made a slight face, a sneer coming in to place.

"It's still safer for you there until your father calms down. Contact her, explain the situation, and I will have you dropped off. I will tell your father that you are with..." She paused, trying to think of a family that would suffice.

"The Potter's." Cat announced, "I'm friends with their son, James." Her mother nodded stiffly, turning to leave the room.

"Your father was serious, Catalina. Time may bring his temper down so that he won't hurt you much, but he is going to disown you. He wouldn't forget something like that." Cat simply nodded, going to her desk to send an owl to her best friend, a certain Miss Lily Evans.

September 1, 1976

"Goodbye, Mum." Cat whispered, wrapping her arms around Mrs. Evans as the woman freted over her clothes and hair. She grabbed a hold of Cat's tie, adjusting it for about the millionth time.

"Don't get in to too much trouble, Kitty. Keep your grades up! You did so good on your OWLs, just make sure to not get distracted by any boys-"

"No Boys at all would be better, really, Kit Kat." Mr. Evans interjected, gaining a chuckle from his wife.

"Make sure Lily doesn't over work herself." She finally finished, giving the young girl one last hug. Cat smiled, dreading the next few minutes when she was required to spend time with her real mother and father. Cat spent most of her summers with Lily and her family, minus the first two weeks and when they had to visit other family members. She'd come to see Lily's parents as her own and Lily as her own sister. Her relationship with her own family, however, was failing miserably. The only ones that she was able to have a pleasurable conversation with anymore was her Cousin and her older brother. The rest of them saw her as the scum of the earth, especially when they saw how close she was to a 'mudblood'.

"Oh, look, it's the blood-traitor." Her youngest brother drawled.

"Nice to see you too, Vladimir." Cat shot back with a glare.

"Don't get snappy with him, Catalina." Her father growled, grabbing her arm and forcing her to turn away from his her brother. "You listen here, you filthy little brat. I'm giving you one more chance this year. You will either stay at home with your mother and I for the summer, or I'm done. You should have been disowned years ago, the moment you were sorted in to Gryffindor and you became friends with that little mudblood-"

"Don't you dare call her that!" Cat interjected hotheadedly, receiving a crushing squeeze on her arm. Sharp ripples of pain ran along her arm to her shoulder, making her cry out in pain.

"I'll call her what I want. You worthless little Bloodtraitor!" He roared, and for once, Cat was glad that the Platform was too loud for anyone to hear him, and not to mention, her family always met away from the others. "You're scum. You're the reason that Michael is turning out so screwed up, too. You are you're little Blood traitor ways. You were lucky; I have given you chance and chance again to redeem yourself. You still refuse, and continue on with your ways. You're done, Catalina. No longer are you to be considered part of this family. We don't want such a filthy, worthless, slag in our family. You'll amount to nothing; all that you're going to do is end up pregnant, your husband will be garbage! A worthless criminal who can give you noth-"

"Excuse me, Mr. Rostov." A voice interrupted. Cat was relieved to see James standing, speaking to her father, with Sirius next to him. Usually, she would be groaning in annoyance at the sight of Sirius Black, but anyone was better than being alone and listening to the rest of her father's rants. "Can we borrow Catalina now, sir? We really need to speak with-" But he was cut off by her father shoving her, releasing the arm that he'd still been griping, and slamming her into Sirius. Luckily for her, he caught her rather than letting her fall to the ground, or she would have been in even more pain. She quickly pulled herself away from him, going behind the two boys to wait.

"You can take the little slag and keep her. I never want to see her face again." He snapped, storming back over to his wife and Sons.

"Bloody hell! What was that, Cat?" James snapped as he led her away, "You never told me that your parents were that bad. Come on, Catalina! Speak." His tone softened towards the end as he saw how shook up she looked.

"Usually he's not that bad in public. I don't know if he actually just disowned me or if he was just going off on one of his rants again..." She shuddered slightly, and then felt the pain in her arm. "Bloody Hell, that hurts!" She squealed, rubbing it to try and get the circulation back faster.

"Of course it does! He nearly tore your arm off, Kitty. You're just lucky that Sirius saw him start screaming at you, or neither of us would have come." James exclaimed, shaking his head in disbelief.

Cat raised an eyebrow in questioning. Usually, she and Sirius were lucky to even be considered civil towards one another. They were constantly bickering back and forth, never getting along. There were a few times, she supposed, that they'd gotten along, but they only lasted for a few minutes. One was when she'd seen her first boyfriend in a broom closet with another girl while walking to class with James and Sirius. Both James and Sirius had moved to hex him, but Sirius had gotten to him first; the rest of the day they had no arguments. Another time was during quidditch, when one of the beaters had whacked her in the stomach with their bats, going unnoticed by the referee or teachers of any sort. Sirius had hit the boy in the back with him own bat, earning himself A. Detention and B. a penalty shot on Gryffindor (Cat insisted this was only because it was quidditch, though).

"Thanks, Black." She said with a slight smile, allowing herself to give him a small hug, despite how much she truly disliked him. He rolled his eyes in response, giving a small smile; Cat noticed, however, that he seemed to be angered over something. It was weird for her, considering how good the Black family usually was with covering up their feelings.

"Anyways, Kitty, are you looking forward to our sixth year at Hogwarts?" James questioned, eyes practically sparkling with mischief.

"Ready as I'll ever be." She replied with a grin, hopping on the train along with the two boys.

AN: So this was just a quick chapter too get you too our point in the story. It doesn't really show much about Cat's personality, friends, etc, just gives you an idea of her life before Hogwarts and who her friends are and what not. I'm going to put up a family tree for Catalina sometime soon and I'll probably leave the information on her family on my profile.


	2. Onto the Sixth Year

AN: Arina-Peachy: Thanks for the review, dear. I'm glad that someone likes it. :) I will update at least every other day unless I'm out of town, which is really unlikely to happen until mid August when I might be moving. Once school starts up I will still try to stay to every other day, though I might have to put it off sometimes for my school work. I hope you Enjoy the next chapter, even though it is a little short.

"KITTTYYY!" Was shouted down the corridor of the Hogwarts express as soon as she climbed on, and not even three seconds later Cat found herself getting practically smothered by her two best friends, besides Lily.

"Mary, Marlene… I. need. Oxygen." She managed to gasp out, attempting to free herself of their long arms.

"Girls, I think you're going to break Catalina." She heard another, slightly raspy voice, chuckle.

"Hello, Remus." She said from between her friends, taking in a gasp of air as she was finally freed from their vise like grips.

"You didn't owl us." Marlene accused, pointing a finger at Cat, "I want to know everything! What you and Lily did over the summer, what you got on your OWLs, any summer romances that you may have had… Especially the last part!" She exclaimed, her eyes sparkling excitedly. Cat shook her head in disbelief, throwing and arm up on Marlene's shoulder (which wasn't easy, considering how tall that girl had gotten over break).

Marlene and Mary were two of Cat's greatest friends, besides Lily, of course. In their group of best friends, it was obvious who was closer too who. While Marlene and Mary shared a sister like bond, Cat and Lily also shared the same bond; all four of them, though, were almost as close as it was possible for four girls to get. They all had their little spats, just as any friends would, but in the end they would always be there for each other. The differences in personality that caused these small spats were also the differences that they'd all come to love and find entertainment in.

"I'll tell you everything, McKinnon." She affirmed, gaining a squeal of delight, "But first, let's find a compartment?" She suggested with a small smile, "Unless you want to wait and then end up cramped in one with people we don't know?" Marlene made a face, grabbing Cat's arm and pulling her along; fortunately for Cat, she didn't notice the flinch she gave as she gripped the spot where a nasty bruise was now forming.

"LILY!" Mary called as they passed the redhead, motioning for her to follow them to an empty compartment. Marlene finally stopped when she was satisfied with the compartment she'd found, ushering the three of her best friends in to the room.

"Now… Let's see… Neither of you owled us much this summer. You especially, Catalina!" Mary accused with a glare, "So let's start with Catalina. What have you gotten on your OWLs, then?" She interrogated with a huge grin. Cat dug into her pocket, searching for the paper that she had been meant to give to her father and uncrumpling it.

"All O's, minus History of Magic, but that class is rubbish, so that doesn't matter." She replied, handing the wrinkled paper over to her friends to see.

"It's not Rubbish! You just don't enjoy it…" Lily protested with a slight pout, gaining a loud, booming laugh from Cat.

"You and Mary are the only ones who are any good in it…" Cat replied with a smirk.

"And Alice, Peter, and Dorcas." Lily retorted with a slight glare.

"You and Lily still both make me feel like a complete moron; I only got one O, in Muggle studies, at that!" Marlene exclaimed, crossing her arms and playfully glaring at her two friends.

"Anywaysssss, what classes are you taking?" Mary continued with her interrogation of Cat.

"Anything I got an OWL in, minus History of Magic, of course." She replied with a small chuckle

"All of them? Even Astronomy? Is that even useful?" Marlene questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Not really. But I got O's in all of them and I like them. The few I don't really enjoy are simply required to become and Auror." Cat explained.

"And what classes do you actually not Enjoy, Catalina?" Marlene asked sarcastically.

"Herbology." Was Cat's short and simple reply.

"Because of that incident with the Slytherins and the devil's snare?" Mary questioned with a grimace.

Last year's herbology class had been hell for Catalina with Snape, Mucilber, Avery, and Rosier all in her group. She'd ended up injured so many times that she couldn't even keep track of the trips she'd made to the hospital wing. The worst of them, was by far, the incident with the Devil's Snare.

Cat had managed to get detention for 'breaking' one of the pots containing some precious plants, which Snape had actually done. Sprout had refused to listen to her pleas, however, and gave her detention cleaning the greenhouse on a Friday night. She'd gone to the detention, dreading it up until the point of the incident. She had plenty of reason to dread it, too. For one, she might get kicked of the quidditch team for missing a practice and for two, she was going to be alone in the greenhouse at night.

Once she'd arrived, Sprout had immediately taken her wand and set her to work on her cleaning while she went to a meeting. The whole time she'd been there, she'd heard noises coming from outside the greenhouse, people's whispers, and someone staring at her. To put it lightly, she was really freaked out afterwards. After about two hours she'd heard footsteps entering the greenhouse and figured it was Sprout; she was very wrong. As soon as she turned to see the 'professor', something had hit her dead on in the face. She'd heard a dark laugh and a metallic clang ringing through her head before she'd seen nothing but darkness.

She woke up almost fifteen minutes later, her legs and arms wrapped completely in what she knew was Devil's Snare. She'd yelled for the next ten minutes, trying her best not to struggle, but the plant made its way future and further until it was wrapped around her neck and throat. Lucky for her, Remus had happened to be out (doing what, she'd never asked) and found her; not before she'd completely passed out, though.

Cat shuddered at the memory, giving a stiff nod in response; "That pillock of a professor… I hate her so much for that. She's lucky that plant didn't kill me. If Remus hadn't been doing merlin knows what that night, I'd have probably been strangled by that thing." She seethed, only stopping because of the compartment door sliding open.

"Lilyyyy. No!" Mary whined when she saw it was Remus Lupin, dragging their friend off to the prefect's carriage. "We still need to catch up!" She pouted, looking quite like a small child.

"Funny that you should choose this moment to walk in, Lupin." Marlene stated with a chuckle, ignoring her friends whining, "Cat was just venting about Sprout and her stupid plants." She explained with a chuckle.

"Nice to see you too, Mary." Remus greeted the whining blonde with a look of amusement, "It's not the plants fault, it's whoever was using the thing." He replied with a shrug.

"I don't care who's fault it was… that plant still better not be placed anywhere near me in class this year." Cat retorted with a shudder, receiving an amused look from Remus.

"It's hard to believe that you're scared of a silly little plant, when you plan to become an Auror. I'm sure you'll get over it after a while." He replied, turning to Lily, "We should probably get going." The redhead nodded, hopping up and just narrowly missing Mary's arms as she attempted to keep her with them.

"I'll be back in less than half an hour Mary, calm down, you silly girl!" Lily exclaimed, her bright green eyes showing obvious signs of amusement.

"Stupid Prefects meeting…" She grumbled, sitting back down in her seat and crossing her arms over her chest.

AN: Short one, but They'll get a lot longer, I promise. :) I just wanted to get another chapter up, and thought that this chapter would be a good way to introduce how Cat's Relationship with most of her family was. Plus, your introduced to Cat's best friends a little bit more. :P As time goes on, you will get to know more about Cat and see how she has changed since coming to Hogwarts and how she will continue to change even more throughout the story.


	3. Enter Jessica Page

Disclaimer: I, Devin Ebony, do not own the Harry potter Series. The only things in this story that I in anyway own Is Catalina and the majority of her family.

AN: Diamondgirl3 & Arina-Peachy, thanks to both of y'all for the reviews. :)

The train ride passed relatively fast, and Cat was more than happy to be back at Hogwarts. It was like a home to her, a home where she didn't have to listen to her family's complaints or father's fighting. She didn't have her parents, uncles, aunts, brother, and cousins breathing down her neck, ordering her around. It was the one place, other than the Evans' house, that she actually felt welcome at.

At her family's house, the two weeks that she stayed with them out of the year, she had to listen to her parent's arguing, her brother's fighting, and the snide remarks constantly directed towards her. The only people that she could stand that came around were Larisa, her cousin, and Michael, her older brother. They were the only two who didn't constantly judge her, and didn't share the family beliefs on blood purity. The three of them, plus one of their second cousins, were the only ones in the family not obsessed with the bloodline of their family. It was only natural that they would stick together whenever possible at home, it kept them from all going insane.

"Catalina! Cat! Come here!" A tall, blonde girl was shoving her way through the crowd, trying to force her way over to Cat. "Finally. These crowds get crazier every year!" The girl gasped, catching her breath, "Come get a carriage with me and Michael, we need to catch up! Your dad's little fit cut in to our time to talk on the platform." She explained, pulling the shorter girl along with her, back through the crowd and to the carriage she had grabbed.

Cat made a face, not liking this idea. It wasn't that she didn't want to spend time with her cousin and brother, because she really did, but they had some annoying friends. Well, at least Larisa did. She was best friends with Jessica Page, who was one of the biggest gossipers in the school, and her little group. Michael was more of a loner, minus his two friends, Daniel Corner and Jacob Boot. The boys didn't really bother her as much as the gossiping girls did.

"Catalina!" She heard a high pitched voice squeal in delight as she climbed in after her cousin, "What a pleasant surprise! I haven't spoken to you in ages!" Cat gave a slightly forced smile to Jessica, taking a seat next to her brother. Looking around the carriage, she was relieved to find that it was the boys, herself, Jessica, and Larisa; that she could deal with.

"Jessica, so nice to see you." She greeted with a small smile, "how was your summer?" She questioned

"Same old, same old." Jessica responded, sounding bored, "Summer in France with some of my mother's relatives, not at all interesting." She paused, "How was yours?"

Cat couldn't help but roll her eyes. France? NOT INTERESTING? This girl was the most ungrateful person she'd EVER met.

"Just stayed with Lily for a little while, went to the cinema a few times. Her parents took us to the beach for a week, that was rather fun-"

"Wow. They sound so nice!" Jessica squealed, interrupting her story, "So, do you know if Lily is planning on saying yes to James Potter this year? He's been asking her for a date for as long as I can remember." She questioned, her eyes green, cat like eyes lighting up, hopping that she could get some kind of story out of the answer. At this, Cat looked at Larisa, pleading for her to stop her friend so that they could actually talk to each other.

"No, Lily doesn't like James all that much. It's not like we can blame her, right? He is kind of a git at times, and he did torment one of her best friends for quite-" Cat began to explain, only to be interrupted again.

"Ohhhh, that Severus boy, right? The Slytherin? He's not all that good looking, you know, quite ugly, in fact. I feel bad for the poor bloke" Jess exclaimed, "How about you? Any guys that you fancy? Sirius? Remus? Peter? Frank? Anyone? Or someone outside of your house?" Cat felt her head spinning. She was talking at a mile a minute! How was her mouth not falling off yet?

"Not particularly-" Cat began to say.

"No one? What I heard was Peter, but he doesn't seem your type at all. You're much smarter than him, and really pretty; so I'm sure you could get a much better looking guy. I also heard that you might possibly like Remus Lupin, and that fits more, considering he is fairly smart and not exactly all that hard on the eyes, am I right?" Cat rolled her eyes and shook her head. Remus was anything but hard on the eyes, honestly. He was… well, sexy. She just didn't see him that way. He was her friend, nothing more or less. "No? Not Remus? There was only one other guy that I heard you might fancy, and I found it quite ridiculous, to say the least.." She trailed off, finally not talking for a few seconds, which Cat thanked Merlin for. Her and Peter? That was completely ludicrous! Her and Remus made some sense, she'd admit that. But Her and Peter? She couldn't get over that. Was this girl on drugs?

"I also heard from a few Slytherins," Cat wanted to roll her eyes at this, "that you were going to start dating Regulus Black." Cat feigned gagging, "I found it strange, of Course. I mean, you're older than him. Not by much, considering you are the youngest sixth year here, but you're still a whole year ahead of him in school. Besides that, I pinned you for more Sirius Black's type rather than Regulus'. I mean, you are a Gryffindor, after all. The boy is still almost as gorgeous as his brother, though! Quidditch has definitely done him good. If he wasn't a fifth year…." Cat finally got tired of trying to keep up with her, deciding to cut her off.

"Jess, as much as I would love to discuss Regulus Black's abs and bum…" She made a slight face at this, "I'd really rather not. He's not my type, and I am in no way planning on dating the bloke. I really do wonder who was saying that rubbish, though." She chuckled slightly, turning to her cousin. "I'll sit with you during the feast, okay?" She questioned, knowing that the carriage ride would be no more than a minute longer, if that. Jessica would luckily be too preoccupied talking to the rest of her friends at the feast to realize that Larisa was talking to Cat rather than to her.

"It was great getting to talk to you Jess, but I really must go catch my friends and tell them that I'll be eating at the Ravenclaw table rather than the Gryffindor!"

AN: I wasn't going to use this one, it's a bit older and I was planning to edit It out… but I saw it as a good way to introduce one of Cat's least favorite people at Hogwarts, Jessica Page. I'll be adding another chapter sometime tonight or in the morning.


	4. What Was She Thinking?

Disclaimer: I, Devin Ebony, do not own the Harry potter Series. The only things in this story that I in anyway own Is Catalina and the majority of her family.

"Kittyyyy! Come on!" Mary whined, stamping her foot and crossing her arms, "You can't sit with the Ravenclaws!" She complained, glaring at her friend slightly.

"And why, exactly, can't I, Mary?" Cat questioned, giving her friend a playful shove.

"Because… Because… You're a Gryffindor! It's disloyal! Plus, we haven't finished catching up yet, Lily hasn't shown us her owl scores, I haven't really talked to you since last summer, and-" Cat put a hand over her mouth, trying to quiet her down. Had this girl drank ten cups of coffee before getting on the train?

"Calm down, you nutter! I know I'm a Gryffindor, but that just means that I'll be in the dorm with you, Lily, Marlene, and the rest of the girls tonight. We'll all have some time to catch up then. Not to mention we have a lot of our classes together this year. They are an entirely different story, though! I've hardly spoke to Larisa and Michael since the second week of summer, though. They're in a different house, and year, in Michael's case. I don't see them nearly as much as I see you guys." She reasoned.

"Alright…" A smirk suddenly found its way on to her face. Cat bit back a groan, growing weary of her friend. "We need to play truth and dare tonight, then! No excuses, I don't care what time we have to get up in the morning!" she demanded.

"Fine! Fine! I'll play this time! Truth or Dare, tonight, Gryffindor Common Room." Cat agreed, heading for the Ravenclaw table. As she walked away, she couldn't help but wonder exactly what she had just agreed to.

Truth or Dare was insanity when it came to the Gryffindors; it lasted two hours and usually they had at least ten people participating. Last time she'd played, she'd ended up jumping into the lake in the middle of December; when there was a blizzard. She'd been stuck in the hospital wing for three days after with a magical version of the Flu. She, for one, had not been pleased. Her friends had all been thoroughly amused. The time before that, one of the sixth year prefects had been dared to snog her. A prefect whom she did not like because he'd gotten her put in detention numerous times. To put it very lightly, Cat did not enjoy their Truth or Dare sessions.

Walking over to the Ravenclaw table, she hit both her cousin and her brother in the back of the head. "Because of you two, I now have to suffer through ANOTHER Truth or dare, which I swore I would never do after that plunge in the lake and snogging session with that prefect." She shuttered at the memory, chuckling when she saw her brother tense at the mention of her snogging a guy. "Come off it, Mikey." She retorted, ruffling his hair up and collapsing in the seat between him and Larisa as the sorting began.

Watching the sorting made her remember exactly why she was being disowned from her family. She was being cast aside like a piece of garbage only because she was sorted into Gryffindor rather than the house that her family so obviously preferred. Still, she didn't regret letting the hat sort her into Gryffindor. It was there that she'd met her best friends, and she would never give them up for anything. They were even better than her parents ever were. They actually loved her for her, and not just because she was another child that they could control, marry off, and continue their precious pureblood line with.

She wished that she could say that her family was the only family that was like that, but that would be a complete and utter lie on her part. Just in UK you had the Malfoy, Black, Carrow, Avery, Mulciber, Yaxlex, Rosier, Nott, and Lestrange families; that wasn't even the beginning of the extensive list of pureblood extremists. There were plenty of other witches and wizards that would go through the same crap with their family if they were sorted into Gryffindor like she had been. Heck, a lot of them would get even worse treatment than she received. She knew how those families worked.

"How are things going with you Gryffindorks?" Isa finally questioned, snapping Cat back into the present and causing her to realize that the sorting and Dumbledore's welcome speech were both over.

"Alright, I suppose." Cat responded with a shrug, filling her plate with some food, "I didn't really get to talk to them much over the summer, minus Lils, ya know." She explained, "They're kind of peeved that I decided to come over here and eat rather than eat with them. I guess they'll get over it, though."

"How can you can Michael eat so much?" Isa questioned as she placed some food on her own plate, only to see that Cat was only just attacking her first plate, which was piled in a tower of food.

"How can you eat so little?" Cat retorted as soon as she had swallowed her mouth full of food, "In case you haven't noticed, Vladimir isn't exactly a light eater, either." She added with a chuckle, "You should see mum when no one else is around. We all three definitely get out eating habits from that woman." Her mother could eat a whole twenty pound turkey, if she set her mind on it, and then probably still eat more afterwards.

"Aunt Morgan? Really? Wow. Would have never thought it." Isa stated with a laugh, "She's so small, you wouldn't picture her eating all that much." Cat shrugged in response, taking another bite of food.

"I'm about the same size as her, and you don't see that stopping me from eating, do you?" She questioned jokingly. It was true, though. Her mum was pretty much the exact same size as she was; a whopping one-hundred and fifty four centimeters tall.

"Good point." Isa replied with a chuckle, "So, what was your father saying to you on the platform?" She asked, finally bringing some seriousness into the conversation and bringing Michael's attention back to them.

"I heard him yelling, but by the time I got over there I only saw him shoving you into Potter and Black and then storming off. What was it all over?" her brother questioned concernedly.

"It was just the same old same old fight. " Cat replied with a grimace, "'I'm going to disown you if you don't stop being friends with this trash'" she mocked her father, "You guys know how he is. He tried to scare me into bending to his every whim, and he failed, once again. Then he got angry, started yelling at me, calling me pretty much everything in the book, and getting into my face. James and Sirius ended his rant a few minutes early and he got all moody about it and shoved me in to Sirius." By the end, she could see irritation on both of their faces; they were used to it, though. Both of them had seen and even at times received the temper tantrums that were so common amongst her family members.

"He's been having the same temper tantrum for over five years now, when is he going to learn?" Isa vented irritably, "I mean, really. Every year he does the same thing when he sees you. He threats you, tries to convince you that you should listen to him and dump your friends, the whole deal. He gets the same exact answer; every. Single. Time. It's useless."

"He's a Rostov." Catalina stated simply, "We've all got tempers and are hard headed." That was about the only thing that she shared in common with her father personality wise. It was something that almost all of her relatives had I common.

"Still. He's disgusting." She concluded, pushing her plate away, "And I'm full." She smirked at Cat, who was now on her second bulking plate.

"Sod off, Isa." She retorted jokingly, giving her a light shove, "So, did anything interesting happen while I was at the Evans' this summer?" She asked both her brother and cousin, wondering just how bad their family had been over the summer.

"Not much, just discussions about who is being married off to who. Your dad mentioned marrying you off, but said that you'd ruined your image to much by now for any respectable pureblood to allow you in his family. Their thinking about arranging something with the Rosiers and Helen, but she didn't seem too pleased with that. I still think that she rather likes Nott." She paused, "They want me to marry Mucilber, but you know that's not going to happen." Cat nearly choked on her food.

She didn't know how many times she had gotten in a fight with that slimy git. She was pretty sure it was up in the hundreds, though. He had attacked Mary once, using some form of dark magic on her. Mary had never been the same around the Slytherins again after that, always seeming more timid and reserved. Cat had been so mad, but she'd had no proof that it was him who had done the magic, so nothing could be done. Then last year with the Devil's snare, she was pretty sure he'd had something to do with that.

"I should hope you wouldn't marry that thing!" She exclaimed, "I swear that he was the one behind the devil's snare incident AND Mary's 'accident' last year. He's a real piece of work, he is! He's a bloody git, and he deserves to rot in Azkaban." She scowled slightly.

"I agree with you wholly, which is why, like I said, I will not be marrying him." She assured with a smile.

"Thank Merlin." Cat stated with a chuckle, "So, did my dad say anything else about me, besides me being a disgrace?" She questioned further.

"Only that apparently Mrs. And Mr. Black were considering letting you marry their youngest son. The Slytherin one, Regulus. I guess that's why he was so eager to get you to come home and stop hanging out with the Gryffindors this year." She assumed, " It's probably where Jess got that silly rumor from, too. It must have gotten spread outside of the family somehow. I really am sorry about her, by the way. Sometimes she just doesn't know when to keep her mouth shut." She rolled her eyes.

"Understatement of the year." Michael and Cat said simultaneously.

"Anyways, I think it's almost time for us to get going, so you two best finish up with the rest of your food." She paused, "You might want to head over to the Gryffindor table before we leave, that way you don't have to worry about the password or anything when you get to the tower."

"Yeah, you're probably right, Isa." She stated, giving her cousin a hug as she stood up before turning to do the same to her brother. "I'll talk to you guys soon, I promise. Stay out of trouble and have fun with lessons tomorrow."

"Fun with lessons… sureee.." Michael groaned

"Michael!" Cat exclaimed with false shock, "What kind of Ravenclaw are you?" She teased as she walked over to the Gryffindor table, leaving the two behind.

"Kitty, you're back." Mary squealed happily as Cat took the only seat left between her and Sirius, "Are you ready for Truth and Dare tonight?" Before she could respond, the marauders were butting in.

"Wait, there's a truth or dare game tonight?" James piped up excitedly. Cat couldn't help but groan in dismay. Now all of the marauders were going to be involved. This game was only to get worse and worse.

"Isn't this going to be fun?" Sirius asked mockingly, throwing arm around her, "Maybe we'll get you to snog Peterson again? Or maybe it should be Snape this time?" Cat nearly gaged at this suggestion.

"Don't worry, Kitty. Even Sirius isn't cruel enough to do that to you." James assured her.

"That's what you think…" Cat grumbled, shoving the boy's arm off of her shoulder. What was she thinking when she agreed to this?

AN: thanks for all reviews. :3 The Story will start getting good once we get more in to the school year.


	5. Truth or Dare?

Disclaimer: I, Devin Ebony, do not own the Harry potter Series. The only things in this story that I in anyway own Is Catalina and the majority of her family.

Cat wasn't exactly in the best mood. Well, that was an understatement; the biggest one of the century, honestly. Sitting her and waiting for the rest of the Gryffindors, she just couldn't help the dread in the pit of her stomach. On one hand, it was mostly only the sixth years who had decided that they wanted to play. On the other hand, though, that still meant that Sirius was there and who knew what would happen if she got dared by him.

Truth or Dare was rather simple and only had a few rules. The game always lasted exactly two hours. A player was to spin a bottle, and who ever said bottle landed on, that player had to ask truth or dare. There was never, under any circumstances, any changing after you said either truth or dare. If you backed down from a dare you not only became the laughing stock of Gryffindor, but you also had to be the person who gave dare's "personal assistant" the next day and you had to sit out. Luckily this had happened only once or twice that anyone remembered. The only rule for dares was that there was no daring a person to do anything that was extremely life threatening, but other than that, you were free to dare them to do anything you wanted to. The only other rule was there was no repeating of Dares, though questions could be repeated. There was also no way of lying on truth, since Remus had made a contract for everyone that played to sign. No one had dared to see what would happen if they lied, yet.

"I can't wait!" Mary squealed as she came back down from the Girl's dorm, having retrieved a bunch of muggle snacks in drinks for them to all enjoy during the game. She placed an empty soda bottle in the middle of the half formed circle and looked to see who all was there.

So far they had Lily, Mary, Marlene, Cat, Dorcas Meadows, Alice Smith, and Alicia Jones (a fifth year) for the girls. For the boys they had Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, Frank Longbottom, and Fabian and Gideon Prewett, two seventh year twin brother. The only two they s were waiting on were James and Sirius. This really wasn't all that surprising, considering a handful of fourth year girls had practically corned Sirius on his way out of the Great Hall. Sometimes Cat felt bad for him, but only sometimes.

"What did you bring, Mary?" Cat questioned as she shifted through the piles of junk food that the blond had lugged down the steps.

"There is candy in there, Kitty. Go ahead and pull it out." She replied with a chuckle, knowing how much her friend loved muggle sweets, "My aunt sent me a ton of stuff from America, too. So who knows what's in that pile."

"You're officially my favorite friend!" Cat squealed jokingly, finally finding the bag that she was looking for; a bag of Candy corn.

Cat had always had a love for candy as she was growing up, and she considered a day good if her parents even let her have a small piece. They were very strict in that aspect, making sure that she never ate too much of it. Once she'd come to Hogwarts she'd had it more frequently, but only just. After spending so many summers with Lily she could easily say that muggles had created candy that was just as good, if not better, than some wizarding candies. One of the best, in her opinion, was by far Candy Corn.

"How can you eat those?" Mary asked, wrinkling her nose in distaste, "They're my least favorite out of all of the candy that my aunt and parents give me to bring." Cat stuck her tongue out in response, but didn't get a chance to retort as both James and Sirius rushed in to the common room, looking exhausted.

"Enjoying the Fan Club, Black?" Cat questioned sarcastically

"Sod off, Rostov!" He exclaimed, collapsing on the floor next to Remus, "It's not funny. Those girls are mental, completely mental!"

"They're fourteen… They can't be that bad!" She exclaimed with a snort of laughter,

"Can't be that bad? Cat, did you notice that Sirius is missing one of his shoes?" James asked incredulously, motioning to the boy's foot, "Not to mention some of the hair they pulled out of his head."

"He can live without the few strands of hair; he has enough on his head." Cat retorted, "But the Shoe… You really should get that back."

"They can keep the bloody thing! I have another pair." He shuttered at the thought of going back to retrieve it.

"Coward.."

"Alright then, now that everyone is here," Mary began, throwing a playful glare at both James and Sirius, "I'll start our first official truth or dare game of the year." She announced with a smirk, spinning the bottle and waiting to see who it landed on. "Pettigrew, Truth or Dare?" She questioned a glint of mischievousness in her eyes.

"Dare?" He stated, sounding more like a question than anything.

"Alright. I know that you know the charm to get up the girls dorm steps, since all of the marauders do," She paused, "So go upstairs to the seventh year dorms and steal Victoria's Bra out of her trunk. Pray that you don't wake her, either; I hear she's got one nasty temper."

"Mary, that's practically life threatening." Cat stated with a snort, "But it will definitely be entertaining." She affirmed as Peter scurried over to the steps, looking about ready to be sick.

"Marlene, your turn to spin." Mary announced to the girl that was sitting to the right of her. She gladly obliged, spinning it with as much force as she could. The bottle went around multiple times before it finally landed on Alice; Marlene barely opened her mouth before shouts were heard upstairs in the girls' dorms, sending everyone into fits of laughter.

"PETER PETTIFREW, YOU DISGUSTING GIT! I'M GOING TO MURDER YOU!" Was distinctly heard before Marlene continued with her question and Peter rushed back down, taking his former seat.

"Okay, Alice, truth or dare?" She asked the brunette.

"Dare." She answered, sounding more confident than she looked.

"I dare you to… go run around the seventh floor in only your undergarments. And be Careful, Flich is probably around."

"I hate you, Marlene." The girl state with a glare as she stormed out of the common room.

"No you don't, you love me and you know that you do." Marlene responded, waving it off. "Lily, spin." She commanded, to which the redhead immediately responded, spinning it a good four times around the circle before it landed on the girl fifth year girl, Alicia.

"Truth or Dare?" She questioned, receiving a rather quiet "dare" in response, "Okay. I dare you to slip a love potion in filch's food in the morning; we won't forget, so if you back out, you know what happens." The girl gave not protests, simply nodding and looking about ready to crawl in a hole and die.

"geez, Lily. The poor girl is going to die…" Cat remarked as Alice walked back into the common room, dressed once again and the bottle was passed on to Dorcas Medows, who in turn spun it. It went round and round until it finally landed on… Cat. A groan escaped the red haired girl's mouth before she could stop it.

"Truth or Dare, Kitty?" The girl questioned with a smirk.

"Dare." Cat responded confidently, though she was hopping whatever it was, it wasn't too bad.

"I dare you to… Go snog Fabian, one minute." Cat made a face, as if disgusted.

"Why Fabian?" She whined, "Not that you're that bad Fab, but you're just a friend!" She added, realizing how that might have sounded to him.

"Understood, Kitty." Fabian responded with a smirk, but she could tell he'd been a little offended at first.

"I could have made it Sirius… but I figured you'd hate me after that one, right?" Dorcas questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"I think we both would…" Sirius mutter

"Sod off, Black!" Cat yelled at him as she made her way over to Fabian, still feeling like she was going to be slightly sick. This was like snogging one of her brothers; completely disgusting. Still, a dare is a dare, she decided as she leaned in, only coming up one minute later to the sound of wolf whistles.

"Disgusting?" She asked Fabian, getting a chuckle and an affirmative nod in response.

"I may as well have tried snogging Molly or one of my cousins. That's how wrong it felt." He responded with a shudder.

"Alright then," Cat began as she sat down, "Your turn, Alicia."

The fifth year spun the bottle around, whirling around and around it finally stopped on James, who didn't even wait for the question but simply stated "dare"

"I dare you too sing 'I Can't help falling in love with you' to McGonagall Tomorrow morning at breakfast."

"Well, that'll be interesting…" Cat muttered to herself.

"That Elvis song? Really?" James asked with a groan as the girl giggled to herself, "Minnie is going to be giving me a detention tomorrow, I'm sure." He grumbled as Remus spun the bottle again.

"Alright, Gideon, Truth or Dare?" He questioned, waiting for the boy's response.

"Dare." Cat rolled her eyes, wondering why they even asked. Hardly anyone ever choose Truth.

"Go get Mrs. Norris, bring her back and charm her fur mutli colored, then take her back to Filch tomorrow after dinner."

"That'll be the first of many detentions for the last year." Gideon concluded with a smirk, "be back in a bit." He added as he walked out in search of the annoying feline. Sirius took the bottle from Remus, spinning it once again and smirking as it landed on Frank.

"Truth or Dare, Frankie?"

"Don't call me that, _Siri. _Dare."

"Alright, closet over there." Sirius stated motioning to the only closet in the common room, "I dare you to take Alice in there and snog for five minutes, at least." By this point, both of their faces had turned bright red. Frank, obviously not wanting to be Sirius Black's assistant for a day, got up and went through with the dare. It wasn't like the two of them didn't like each other, anyways; They'd been dating for about half a year now.

James didn't even waste a second as he spun the bottle, pleased to see it land on Marlene.

"Okay, Marlene. Truth or Dare?"

"Dare, of course!" Marlene responded loudly, happy to have finally been called on.

"I dare you to write a love letter to Snivellus and send it to him with McGonagall's name signed on it tomorrow evening during dinner so we can see his reaction." He announced.

"Poor Minnie… She's getting the bad end out of all of this stuff." Cat said with a chuckle, "Love songs, fake love letters, detentions to sort through…" She trailed of as Peter spun the bottle once more and the tip pointed at her, "Truth." She stated before the boy could even ask

"Alright, who's your least favorite person in this School and why?" He inquired.

"Mulciber, of course." She answered the part, no hesitation, "He A. used dark magic on one of my best friends," She paused, throwing a comforting smile to Mary, "And I'm pretty sure he's the one that knocked me out and nearly killed me with Devil's snare during detention last year. He thought I had proof of him using Dark Magic, I think." She paused, "Since Frank isn't back, yet… and Gideon isn't-" But she was cut off by the boy walking back in, an unconscious Mrs. Norris in his arms, "Never mind. Gideon! You're turn." She called, waving him over to spin the bottle. It spun around a few times, finally stopping on Remus.

"Dare." Remus stated.

"As per usual from most Gryffindor boys.." Gideon added with a chuckle, "I dare you to go up to the girl you think is the prettiest in this room and kiss her." He challenged, having to hop up and head for the dorms as the cat began to wake up in his arms.

"Awwww." Cat squealed as Remus walked over and gave Mary a kiss, "I Don't think I've ever seen Mary's face turn this red! It's so adorab-" but she was cut off by her friend shoving her to the side as she collapsed into giggles.

"Shut up, Catalina." Mary grumbled, ignoring the girl as Fabian spun the bottle.

"Alright, Lily, Truth or Dare." He questioned.

"Dare." She replied, yawning slightly. It was almost time for the game to end, which Cat thanked merlin for.

"I dare you to go to on a date with James, first Hogesmede trip this year." He challenged with a huge grin, looking proud of his dare. Lily's face turned as red as her face as she huffed.

"Fine!" She exclaimed, "Only once. That's it." She concluded, but that didn't stop James from looking like one of the happiest people on earth.

"Alice is _still _gone," Cat began with a huge smirk, "So It's my turn." She spun the bottle, Eagerly waiting to see who it would land on.

"Truth or Dare, Dorcas?"

"Truth, since it was only picked one other time tonight." She stated

"Who is your least favorite person in Gryffindor?" She inquired, not expecting the answer she got.

"Well.. Er… It's a tie between you and Lily." She finally answered, leaving Cat confused.

"Wait, wh-" Cat began to ask, but was cut off by the timer that Mary had set for two hours going off, signifying the end of that round of truth or dare. By the time that she'd been able to react, Dorcas was already up the steps and in the dorms.

"Well… Things just got interesting." Sirius said in concluding, letting out a yelp as Cat busted him upside the head.

AN: So, next chapter will be really amusing. Minnie might have a heart attack with all the Chaos to come with the aftermath of this Truth or Dare game.


	6. The Beginning of an Interesting Year

Disclaimer: I, Devin Ebony, do not own the Harry potter Series. The only things in this story that I in anyway own Is Catalina and the majority of her family.

The first thing that happened in the morning wasn't all that pleasant for Cat. Marlene had all but sat on Cat, making it so that she had absolutely no way of escaping. Lily had only escaped a similar fate because Mary and Marlene knew that she was the more calm and level headed of the two, the one least likely to do something stupid when upset. It was no secret that Cat was upset about the truth or dare game last night and Dorcas' answer to her question; Cat wasn't mad enough to do anything, though. She simply wanted answers, she wanted to know why. If the girl didn't like her, she didn't like her. She would like to know WHY she didn't like her, however, and what exactly she done to make her dislike her. She'd hardly even spoken to the girl, since most of them time the sixth year Gryffindor girls broke off in to two groups; Mary, Marlene, Lily, and Cat in one group and Alice, Dorcas, and Rose MacDougal (a very shy girl) in the other. They'd always gotten along perfectly fine, though, and stuck up for each other when need be.

"Marlene, you git, get off of me! I'm not mad! I just want to get a shower, you twit!" She protested, squirming and trying to get the blonde to ease up.

"Wait… So you're not mad?" She questioned confusedly.

"No, I'm simply confused. I'm going to talk to Dorcas in a civil manner and just ask her why. If she doesn't like me, she doesn't like me; it's simple. I'd just like to know if I did something to upset her in anyway." Cat replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Wow. Usually with your temper we expect… Fireworks of some kind… but... you're actually calm about this?" Mary sounded Cautious, not wanting to allow Marlene to release Cat until she was positive the girl was calm.

"I'm calm, you prats! Can I please go take a shower, though? I can't be late to class on my first day! Minnie would kill me!" Mary nodded, motioning for Marlene to let their best friend up to use the bathroom. She still kept her eyes on Cat, though, watching her every move.

"Mary… that's creepy… You're scaring me!" Cat squealed, grabbing her clothing and toiletries for the day and making a run for the bathroom.

"Hurry up! We all need to get down to see what classes we have first this year and when our free periods are!" Marlene shouted after her.

"You should have thought of that before you trapped me to a bed, McKinnon!" Cat shouted back, satisfied when she heard the girl curse.

Cat had fully intended to take her time in the shower and with getting ready. She didn't have much of a choice, however, once she realized that the girls had used pretty much all of the hot water in the showers. Even with magic, they took_ forever_ to warm up again. She still didn't get how it could take so long with magic. Her showers in her family's home never ran out of hot water, so she knew there was a way to stop it from doing so. Cat groaned deciding she may as well get it over with, she toke her shower with the barely _lukewarm _water and getting out in less than five minutes once it began to turn to ice cold.

"I hate you three!" She hollered out to her friends, chattering as she dried off and changed into her uniform. With a wave of her wand, her hair was completely dried off; that was one spell she was glad that her mother had taught her. It saved her loads of time at School. Grabbing a brush, she quickly ran it through her hair, brushing her teeth at the same time and opting not to mess with any make-up or anything. She was hungry and she wanted to get down

"Record speed, Kitty." Mary congratulated sarcastically, "Was everything okay? I thought I heard you yelling for us…" She paused, giving her best attempt at looking completely innocent. The look didn't stay on her face long once she saw the glare that Cat was giving her, sending her into peals of laughter.

"You three are evil, I tell you." Cat grumbled, grabbing her bag with her school belongings and pulling her shoes on, "Let's go. We have to get down to breakfast fast… I'm starving."

"When aren't you hungry?" Lily questioned sarcastically, receiving a glare from her friend.

"Sod of, Evans." Cat retorted jokingly, throwing an arm around her friend's shoulder.

"Love you too, Cat." Lily replied sarcastically as the made their way out of the portrait hole, being one of the last groups of Gryffindors to do so. "Hopefully we're not too late…"

"Mary and Marlene's fault." Cat immediately shot, giving both of them a light smack.

"Oi! We thought you were going to eat Meadow's face off or something. We had to hold you back." Marlene complained, holding her hands up in defense, "Don't say that you don't have a temper, Cat. Everyone I've met in your family so far has a nasty temper." Cat shrugged in response, continuing the rest of the walk to the great hall in silence.

"FOOD!" She exclaimed when they finally made it to the Great hall, practically skipping over to the Gryffindor table and immediately piling food on a plate.

"Glad to see you so excited on the first day of classes, Miss Rostov." McGonagall commented, placing a time table in front of the girl as she practically inhaled her plate. Cat could have sworn she heard her mutter, "Thought Lupin, Potter and Black could eat a lot... Run for their money."

"Alicia!" She heard someone scream, rushing in to the Great hall, "Alicia! I love you!" Cat nearly choked on her food when she saw the fifth year girl from the Truth or Dare game crawling under the Gryffindor table, pausing in front of her legs.

"Don't tell him, Cat? Please?" She practically begged, but it was too late; Filch had noticed.

"OI! PUT ME DOWN YOU PRAT!" Cat bellowed, flailing her arms and legs about as Filch roughly grabbed her up from her seat in an attempt to get to the fifth year. He clumsily threw her on the floor, causing her to cry out in anger and shock. "YOU- YOU- UGH" She screeched, not even sure what to call the man.

"Mr. Filch! You cannot treat our students in that manner!" She heard Minnie scream from across the hall, looking utterly confused as to what was going on.

"But I love her, Minerva! I must get to her! The Rostov was in the way of my true love!" Filch bellowed, still trying to get to the frantically crawling Alicia.

"What is the meaning of this, Argus? You must stop!" The professor begged, stepping in front of him as he moved to get the girl, only to be lifted and forcibly moved, not unlike cat had. "ARGUS FILCH!" She thundered, "STOP THIS INSTANT!"

"I do believe that Mr. Filch has been the victim of a love potion, Minerva." Professor Slughorn observed.

"Way to state the Obvious…" Cat muttered, finally climbing up from the ground.

"What was that, Catalina, my dear?" Slughorn questioned.

"Oh nothing, sir. " Cat lied easily, "Is there any way to reverse this, sir?" She questioned, assuming that the girl had already suffered enough punishment from the Truth or Dare game.

"Yes, yes of course there is Mrs. Rostov. Luckily for Mr. Filch, we have some in the dungeons now..." He commented, "Come along, Argus. You must wait in the potions class room with me. Alicia will be coming down to see you soon…" This got Mr. Filch's attention, and, cautiously, he went with the professor.

Slowly, Alicia came from under the table, cheeks blazing red enough to rival even Fabian and Gideon's hair. Cat patted the girl awkwardly on the back, going back to her own seat with her friends next to Lily. The whole great hall, as expected, was still cracking up.

"I can't believe he threw you, Kitten! It was hilarious!" Lily exclaimed, hardly able to get the words out over the laughter.

"Wait… Who threw Cat?" Sirius questioned as he, James, Remus, and Peter finally stumbled in to the Great hall.

"What have we missed?" Remus inquired, eyebrow raised as he noticed all of the laughter in the great hall.

"The love potion dare last night…" Cat muttered grumpily, shaking her head.

"We missed that! Bloody hell, that was the one I was really looking forward to!" James whined, taking a seat by Lily,

"Wait, why did he throw Cat then?" Remus questioned, looking even more amused at that bit of information.

"It's not funny, Rem! He yanked me out of my seat and threw me on the ground trying to get to Alicia! My back hurts now because of it!" She complained, pouting slightly and glaring at the laughing marauders as they all took seats with the girls.

"Wish I could have seen your face then…" Sirius muttered as he stole a piece of jellied toast from Cat's plate.

"Black, you... I don't even know what to call you."

"Love you to, Catalina." He stated, and with that, Cat yanked Lily up from the table, mumbling something about Charms class.

"Oh, by the way, Potter. We haven't forgotten about Alicia's dare to you." Cat commented with a smirk, "Tonight, at dinner, since you came in so late today." She added, flouncing out of the Great Hall with her best friend in tow.

Classes went by relatively slowly, as to be expected with it being the first day. Thursdays were by far scheduled to be the worst days on Cat's schedule, along with Tuesdays. On both days she had five classes that she had to attend, including her astronomy class from ten to twelve at night, which she had yet to attend. The first class for the sixth years (since they'd combined all the sixth year classes together with all houses, same with the seventh years) was Transfiguration with Minnie. She discovered during this period that the class was going to be full of homework this year; not something that she was too thrilled about. Muggle studies, which she took mostly to annoy her parents, went fairly well. They'd only done a review of what they'd learned last year, and considering she lived most of her summer in the muggle world, she wasn't worried about it. Divination was simple as per usual. Most people hated the class, but she loved it; she actually thought that some of it was useful. Not to mention that the teacher loved her and insisted she was a natural seer, so she saw no point in not taking the class. Potions had been the only problem, with a Slytherin boy 'accidentally' spilling his potion all down the back of Lily's and Cat's seats.

By dinner time cat was practically starving, considering she had skipped lunch to go out to the quidditch pitch and do some laps to stay in shape. She'd been on the quidditch team since her second year, but she had to try out again every year, just like everyone else. So she had to keep in top condition to keep her spot as chaser on the Gryffindor team. This also meant, however, that she lost some of her free periods and food periods.

By dinner, it had gotten around school that Alicia had been given a weeks' worth of detention for using the love potion on Mr. Filch, and Minnie was in a down right horrid mood. That would make it all the more interesting when James sang to her and Marlene sent the love letter to Snape, signing it as from McGonagall. This was one dinner that Cat would never choose to miss for anything, she decided as James trudged in. Cat nearly snorted when she realized that he had now dragged Remus into it, the boy grudgingly caring a guitar on him. As James climbed _on top _of one of the end of their table closest to the staff table, Cat almost couldn't control the laughter.

"Minerva McGonagall, I have a song that I would like to sing to you." He announced with a huge grin, not looking worried in the slightest now.

"Mr. Potter, get of that table-" She began to reprimand, but was cut off by an off-key voice and a guitar playing.

"Wise men say only fools rush in

But I can't help falling in love with you

Shall I stay

Would it be a sin

If I can't help falling in love with you." James belted off key, sending the rest of the great hall in to such hysterically laughter that Cat could just barely make out what he was singing over them and Minnie's yells.

"James Potter! You get of that table this instant!" McGonagall yelled, attempting to pull him of the table.

"So Minnie, did you enjoy the song?" He questioned as he climbed down after finishing the song, a huge grin on his face.

"Potter. Lupin. Detention. All next week! Ten points each from Gryffindor" She managed to get out, her face clearly showing how annoyed she was with the students in her house today. Just then, the event that was the icing on the cake occurred. Suddenly, Snape made his way over to the group, an annoyed scowl on his face and a letter in his hand. Not paying attention to the Gryffindors, he thrust the letter into the already annoyed professor's hand and waited for an explanation.

"McKinnon," She stated looking at the handwriting and immediately recognizing it, "One week of detention for impersonation of a teacher and twenty points from Gryffindor." She all but growled, storming back to her seat, grumbling to herself, "What has gotten in to them today? Ridiculous… outrageous… four students with a week of detention already… need some brandy."

"This is going to be an interesting year…" Cat heard someone at the table mutter. She couldn't agree with them more.

AN: So we still have a confrontation to make between some girls… Not to mention a lot of other things that are in store for you next chapter. So be ready to read some more either later today or tomorrow. :D Thanks for any reviews; I'm glad that you guys loved the Truth or Dare… Trust me, Things like that are not an abnormal occurrence for these Gryffindors. :D


	7. Something to Fix

Disclaimer: I, Devin Ebony, do not own the Harry potter Series. The only things in this story that I in anyway own Is Catalina and the majority of her family.

AN: So Sorry I am so Late! Look up the 2012 Derecho storm if you haven't already heard of it, and you will know why. I got pretty banged up during it… Our cars and house didn't fare to well either. Nothing major, though. :)

Cat was pleasantly surprised when she realized that they still had another prank in store for them after dinner. She was pretty sure that Minnie was going to age ten years just in the next few days seeing the way that the Gryffindors were acting. She had to feel bad of course, but it was all in a day's work for the Head of Gryffindor House.

As she was walking to her astronomy class, she had the pleasure of seeing both Minnie's and Filch's reaction to the multi colored Mrs. Norris. Cat had to admit, Filch looked as if he was about to have a heart attack. McGonagall's reaction was less severe than it usually was, but after so much brandy, she wasn't quite herself. It was rather hilarious to see. She'd never thought in all her life that she would see the day that Minnie was completely intoxicated and letting Gideon Prewett off with a 'warning' for one of his numerous pranks. The most amusing part had to be when she took Mrs. Norris, singing 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' in a rather off-key and drunken tone.

For Cat, these were rather recurrent things for the Hogwarts. This was one of the many reasons that Hogwarts would always be her true home along with the house of the Evans family. It was in only those two places that she felt welcomed, safe, and loved. In her home, it was always dark, emotionless; it felt almost as if there were dementors around at all times. This was the life that she'd been used to for the first eleven years of her life, never knowing that another atmosphere even existed. She hadn't known what to expect at Hogwarts, and once she'd stayed there for so long, she grew used to the caring atmosphere that it gave off. Then, suddenly she was thrust back into the world of her family, the cruel, uncaring family. She, once again, was clueless as to what to Expect with the Evans family, not knowing how a true family interacted.

The Evans had easily welcomed her into their family, loving her just as they did Lily (minus Petunia, of course). Mrs. Evans had been the kind, caring mom that she'd always needed, but that her own mother had never been. Mr. Evans had been the caring, ablate overprotective father figure that she'd craved. Lily had been that sibling that she'd always wanted to be close to, seeing as she'd never grown close to Vladimir or even Michael for that matter yet.

Over the years at Hogwarts Lily and Cat had grown closer and closer, becoming almost inseparable in everything. The only thing that they'd ever really had much of a disagreement with was the friendship that Cat had developed with James Potter. Even that hadn't really been all that bad of a fight, considering how wrong that could have possibly gone.

_If anything the fight only made us closer, _Cat thought to herself with a smile as she came out of her memories as she climbed the steps to the astronomy tower.

Cat smiled when she realized how few sixth years had opted to continue taking this class. There were two Slytherins, six Hufflepuffs, two Ravenclaws, and four Gryffindors. Cat was happy to see, that along with herself, the only Gryffindor students to take the class were Alice, Frank, and… Dorcas. Alice and Frank would be too busy with themselves to pay much attention to Dorcas, so Cat could easily talk to the girl.

The teacher began the class not even two minutes after Cat had walked in, explaining what would be happening this year. Luckily for them, the teacher had decided that this year, since so few students were taking the class, they could choose their own partners rather than being assigned to them. Cat had jumped at the mention of this, her plan falling into place. Now there was no way that Dorcas could get away from her. Frank and Alice would pair up, and Cat was the only other Gryffindor; all the other students would probably pair with their friends from their house. The teacher gave the signal for everyone to go find their partner, and Cat couldn't help but make her way over to the slightly clueless girl.

"Hey, Dorcas." She chirped, taking a seat next to her with a bright smile on her face. The girl jumped, looking around, frantically to see if there were any other students left that she could ditch Cat for, but unfortunately for her, there were none.

"We'll be starting a project this year that will account for half of your grade. You will choose from three options. Option A is to study a planet for the year, writing a three foot essay on its history, its moons, its looks, any mythology or beliefs to do with the planet, where the name came from, etc. You will also make a chart of its locations throughout the year. Option B is too create a collection of maps of all constellations that we have studied in our books over the past few years. I will provide a list of them. Then you also have to choose one constellation, construct a model, and give a brief essay on its history. Option C is probably the most basic and boring of the projects. You will give a long essay on the History of Astronomy, with great detail. I will give you a list of certain things that must absolutely be in the essay. Along with the essay you will have another essay to site the differences between Astronomy and the Astrology. " The professor explained, "You are to use this period to discuss amongst yourselves what you will be doing, then come to me so I can give you the proper information."

"Finally." Cat muttered, letting out a sigh of relief as she turned to Dorcas, a huge grin on her face. The girl blanched slightly, sighing before giving in.

"We'll talk after we figure out the project, Catalina. Agreed?" She questioned

"Oh… It's Catalina now?" She joked, but nodded her head in agreement. "I think that Option C should be completely out of the question. Who wants to do a project with just essays? That would suck!" She complained. The brunette next to her nodded in agreement, "Option B seems fun to me, but I'm not really sure. Option A will be a lot of work, and we have no chance of completing it early because we have to chart its location all year. So I think we should go with B, what do ya think, Dorcas?" She inquired, gushing out all of her thoughts in a rush. Cat was a playful person, but when it came to her school work, she made sure that she got serious.

"Sure, Sure. I'll go get the list from the Professor. Then we can choose how to divide the work up…" She trailed off. They were way ahead of the rest of the class. The class was twenty minutes in to the two hours that they'd been provided for Astronomy and already they had picked the project and were preparing to split up the work load, which was more than what the professor had expect them to have done.

Option B is too create a collection of maps of all constellations that we have studied in our books over the past few years. I will provide a list of them. Then you also have to choose one constellation, construct a model, and give a brief essay on its history.

"The list has eighty eight constellations." Dorcas announced with a slight groan, "So We'll be doing fourth four maps, I suppose." She explained with a pause, "The second part can be divided up. You're good with writing essays, right? You always get Os on yours, so you can do that. I'll help with the research and make the model of it. " Cat nodded in approval, taking the list from Dorcas' hand.

"We can do the Essay and Model on… either the wolf, the Young maiden, or the little fox." Seeing the confused look that this gained her, she translated, "Lupus, Virgo, or Vulpecula. Lupus and Virgo would be the easiest, and Lupus has less stars. Plus my grandmother taught me a lot about that constellation with stories and what not when she was alive. So I know more about it." Cat smiled when she realized that pretty much everything was sorted out and they still had about ninety minutes of class. The only thing they could do was wait until they could go to the library to get a start on the project.

"So, Dorcas, I supposed you know what I want to ask about now?" She interrogated, raising an eyebrow challengingly at the brunette. The girl in questioned rolled her eyes at Cat's antics, but still nodded her head in response.

"Look. I didn't say I hate you or Lily. You're just my least favorite Gryffindors that I know." She explained, "It's mostly got to do with your whole group, Including Marlene and Mary." She added, "Me, Alice, and Rose are always left out of everything when it comes to you guys. I mean.. You are good friends with a lot of people, you are more social, it's like you guys are perfect or something. You've got the grades, the looks, guys; the only thing you don't have is the perfect family." She paused, not wanting to bring that too much into the conversation, "Lily's got grades, looks, the guy (who she ignores), and a pretty decent family. I mean, being muggle born is a challenge now, I guess… What with the way the Slytherins and others are acting… but you two have it great."

"What guys do I have?" Cat questioned, looking rather amused.

"That's what I mean. You guys don't even notice it! Sirius obviously likes you. He doesn't pay attention to any other girls, really. He has the occasional girlfriend, but you're the only girl he's ever gotten fought for or gotten himself in trouble for. He could have any girl in the school, you know? They'd all love to date him! He likes you, though. And you hate him!" Cat snorted at this, which was an exaggeration, she didn't _hate_ Black. He obviously didn't like her, either; Dorcas had to be insane. "And me, Alice, and Rose are always left out and thrown to the side when it comes to you four. First year we were good friends, second year it was okay, but by third year we split into two groups. I just don't like it."

Cat had to pause to mull this over a bit. Dorcas did have a point. In first year, all of the girls had been a big group of friends, they were all close and shared everything. Second year they'd began to drift and by third year they were practically strangers. Cat could see what she was talking about, and it really explained the whole not liking Cat and Lily very much. Before they'd began splitting, Dorcas had been getting really close to her and Lily. Then they'd just drifted and never really spoke to each other much more after that.

"We're going to fix that." Cat announced with a huge grin, "You won't have to worry about that anymore." She assured the other girl; Dorcas wasn't really sure if this was going to be a good or bad thing in the end.

AN: I hope y'all are happy with the story… which I can't stop writing, btw. I've tried everything. Reading, Tv, outside for a jog, babysitting, church, my volunteer work… Everything I do I end up thinking of new Ideas for the story and having to write it down. It's not much fun. Let's just say that any part of my body not covered by clothes is in danger of getting a note for me to review latter for plot ideas.

This one is a bit short, sorry. :\ But there are going to be chapters like that…then there will also be the super long chapters sometimes. It just depends on what is happening in the chapter.


	8. Renewing Some Old Friendships

Disclaimer: I, Devin Ebony, do not own the Harry potter Series. The only things in this story that I in anyway own Is Catalina and the majority of her family.

AN: Told you I feel bad for being so slow on the update… so now… I'm going to go as fast as I can with the next few chapters. Without messing them up, that is! Have to make sure they're good. :)

Cat had been plotting ever since Thursday night after her conversation with Dorcas. She was going to make sure that they all got to be friends again, no matter what. Sure, it was fine if they had they're best friends out of the group… but they needed to stick together. They were the Gryffindor girls, and they needed to stick up for each other and care for one and other.

_Especially in these times. _Cat thought to herself, thinking of what she'd heard her parents saying about Voldemort rising to power.

Over the past few years she'd heard a lot about that man. He was all over the newspapers, the killings that happened were often on the front page of their newspapers. Her family supported him, and she knew it. It was a fact that killed her inside to think that the people she'd once 'loved' were so down right evil and disgusting. She knew that her father was one of them, one of the death eaters. It scared her, in all honesty. She'd always know her father could be violent, but she couldn't see him killing anyone. The worst thing was that she, along with the majority of the people she loved, were his enemies.

Cat shook her head, not wanting to think about it now. Today was supposed to be fun! It was Saturday, they had no lessons. She was taking all the Gryffindor girls to the Room of Requirement so that they could have some fun and get to catch up on each other's life over the past few years. Initially, she'd planned to go outside and talk. The weather had other plans, however, and was giving them an unseasonably early sleeting. This meant that they'd have to stay in the castles; unless they wanted to catch a horrid cold from the frigid temperatures.

Cat glanced out the window absentmindedly as she pulled a hooded sweater over her head. The sky was dim, lifeless, and grey. It clearly wasn't the greatest day in the world. There was something about it that she didn't, like, though. She didn't know what it was, but something just felt wrong with the day. There was no way of telling, though, she concluded. She'd just have to wait to see what would happen.

Finally pulling on her shoes and socks, she headed over to where one of the two vanity mirrors that were shared between the seven girls sat. She picked up the she brush that was on the table, not really thinking of anything until she looked over at the muggle clock on her dresser. Quickly, she jumped up, throwing her hair up into a rather wild looking bun. She didn't have time to really do much else; she was already fifteen minutes late to meet Dorcas.

Running through the common room, she was surprised to see how vacant it was considering just how early it was to be going down for breakfast. It was surprising to see that everyone had either slept in or gone early. She was rather hopping it was the first one, since she wanted to talk to the girls without distractions.

She paid no attention to what was occurring around her as she made her way for the portrait hole to exit the common room. It was an understatement to say that she was taken by surprise when the door suddenly opened, beaming her right in the nose and knocking her to the floor. Swearing, she clambered back up and was surprised to see the worried eyes of Remus Lupin and Sirius Black. She didn't have time to chat, though. She rolled her eyes, quickly making her way between the two boys.

"You know…" She paused turning around as she ran down the corridor, "hitting a girl in the face with a door isn't the best way in the world to get other girls to like you. They might be rather terrified of you then." She joked, giving them a wink before she carried on her way.

The rest of the trip down to the Great Hall was rather uneventful. Cat had passed a rather large group of Slytherin students. They had, as it was no surprise, glared at her rather murderously. She'd gotten used to that over the years seeing as Gryffindor and Slytherin had never really been the closest of houses. Not to mention the fact that it was well know that she was of a Pureblood family, a family who supported Voldemort's views, but she herself was a blood traitor. Cat had opted to simply ignore them, not letting them ruin her happy mood as she made her way into the Great hall and practicually ran to where all the girls were sitting at.

"Okay. So is everyone done eating?" She knew they'd been there for at least fifteen minutes in most cases.

"Yes…" The typically quiet Rose replied, "But aren't you going to eat, Cat?" She questioned concernedly, "I've never seen you not eat something at breakfast."

"I'm taking some toast," She replied, grabbing two pieces and putting some jam on them, "Not to mention all the junk food I have in here." She added, shaking her bag slightly.

"Always the junk-food lover, Cat." Mary commented with a quiet chuckled.

"Yes, yes, my eating habits are a bit odd. Let's not dwell on this fact, though! Let us all move on to where we shall be spending the rest of this lovely Saturday!" She announced theatrically, practically bouncing as she did so. She excitedly grabbed the arms of both Mary and Rose, nearly pulling them out of there seats.

"Calm, Kitty. Good Merlin…" Marlene muttered, taking her final bite of her breakfast as she stood up. "So, where exactly are we going?" She questioned curiously,

"You'll see." Cat replied mysteriously, smirking happily to herself as she led the girls up the steps to the seventh floor. She stopped just opposite of a tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy, pacing three times. Her actions gained her a few rather confused looks before the door appeared in front of where she had been pacing. With a grin, she slowly and dramatically opened the door, revealing the room to the girls.

"Wicked! What is this place?" Dorcas explained as they all made their ways inside the room.

"It's called the Room of Requirement. The name basically says it all… IT gives you what you need, unless it interferes with Gamp's Laws, of course." She explained, "James and Remus showed it to me once when were out after curfew.." She stopped, seeing the slight glare she was receiving from Lily. "Anyways, we're going to use it for our 'hang out room' for the day." She announced.

"What exactly will we be doing today?" Marlene interrogated, curious as to what exactly was going on.

"We'll be playing truth, basically. We are going to ask questions to catch up on the past few years. Its pretty much just a conversation. We'll each take turns getting questioned,. After that we can just spend the rest of the day chatting." She explained with a small grin.

"I want to go first!" Mary announced, "For questioning, that is." She added.

"Alright. Let's all form a circle, Mary go in the middle." Cat responded, moving to sit inbetween Lily and Rose in the circle. "We'll start with Dorcas asking a question, then Lily, then me, then Rose, then Marlene. It'll go in that order for questioning too." She added.

"Okay; who is your best friend out of everyone in this room?" Dorcas questioned

"As close as I am to Lily, Catalina, and Marlene… I've always seen Marlene as the closest out of all of them. " Mary responded, giving Lily and Cat a small smile.

"Who do you fancy the most?" Lily questioned, a slight smirk on her 'innocent' face.

"Remus." Mary answered, her face heating up to a rather vibrant shade of red.

"What's your worst fear?" Cat asked. This questioned seemed to take more time to answer than the others.

"I have a lot of fears, yes I am admitting to that, but I have to say that I think my worst one is of the dark wizard currently rising; Voldemort." Cat shuddered slightly at the thought. It was understandable, of course. Everyone was scared of him, even his followers. The fact that Mary was muggle born made it even more sensible for her to fear him. He was targeting Muggles, Muggle Borns, and Blood traitors notably, so pretty much everyone in Gryffindor had reason to worry.

"What are you aiming to be once you leave Hogwarts?" was Rose's question for her.

"I'm aiming to become a potioneer." She replied, a big grin on her face at the thought,

"What's the worst thing you've ever done?" Marlene interrogated with a girn.

"Well… uhm… Worst thing I'd say would be the one time when I got irritated with one of the Slytherin's and dared him to go up and hug the Whomping Willow for ten galleons." Mary answered, gaining some weird looks in response, "What? I'm not a trouble maker like most of you Gryffindors are. Sue me."

"What's your family like?" was the last question of the round, asked by Alice.

"I've got my mum, and she's lovely. She's really understanding and she would do anything for me and my sisters. Other than her, my dad left when I was two, and I don't know where he is. My mom married my step-dad when I was eleven, and he was a wizard, but he passed away last year. They had Juliet and Aurora, my twin little sisters when I was twelve. They're three now and already showing signs of magic." She explained, smiling slightly at the end as she thought of her two baby sisters. Standing up, she went to trade spots with Dorcas.

"Okay, Dorcas…. Who do you fancy?" Mary had asked with a huge smirk, eyes dancing slightly with mischievousness.

The day had went on rather well with all of the girls learning both things they'd already known and things that were relatively new. They'd all questioned each other mercilessly, not caring if it was embarrassing. All of them were trust worthy, they'd never reveal anything that someone had told them in confidence. They'd learned of Rose's fear of water, Dorcas' crush on the Ravenclaw Quidditch Captain, Lily's plan for after Hogwarts, Marlene's hatred of the American accent, and a lot more. By the end of the day, none of them wanted to go to dinner; they wanted to stay in the room and finish catching up on everything that they'd missed in the last three years of their lives.

In the end, though, it was obvious that they would have to go dinner. None of them had eaten a real meal since breakfast, so they were all completely starved. Together, they all made their way back down to the great hall, chatting amongst themselves the whole way there. Cat was so happy that she didn't even pay Avery and his goons any mind as they watched after the seven of them. She was in to cheerful of a mood to let them ruin it. Nothing could ruin it for her. That all changed the second that she sat down at the Gryffindor table, however.

Not even a few seconds after she had sat and began to pile food on her plate, she had her family's owl landing right in front of her. She was initially shocked, seeing as her parents usually left her alone while she was at school. They only ever bothered her during those two weeks that she stayed with them in the summer. Gently, she took the letter that was addressed to her from the owl's leg, careful not to jolt the owl to much; he was nearly twenty years old, after all.

Her good mood immediately came crashing down as she noticed it was her father's, rather than her mother's handwriting. With a slight groan, she ripped the letter open, completely oblivious to the content that was inside. She wasn't prepared for the sudden shock that the letter was going to give her or the sudden change of mood that she was going to receive.

AN: Yes, this is a cliff hanger. You'll find out tomorrow what happened and what the letter's contents were. :) You can make guesses if you like, because I'm sure some of you can figure it out.

Thank you for any reviews I receive. 3 I love you know what you guys think about the story!

Also: I want to apologize I advanced for any mistakes I make with any British terms. If you haven't noticed, I am definitely an American. So I'm not the most intelligent person when it comes to that sort of stuff.


	9. Encounter with Some Old Enemies

Disclaimer: I, Devin Ebony, do not own the Harry potter Series. The only things in this story that I in anyway own Is Catalina and the majority of her family.

"Cat?" Lily called to her best friend, getting up from her seat across the table and actually crawling under the table to get to her. She didn't care how weird it looked, she knew something was wrong with her friend. She'd only seen her look like this one other time and it had not been a good day at all. "Kitty? Catalina, come on, answer me." By now the two had attracted the attention of their other friends and some of the other Gryffindors sitting around them.

Lily was positive that something was wrong, but she wasn't expecting what happened next. Cat's eyes filled with tears, shocking the majority of her friends. Catalina Rostov did not cry, no matter what. She hadn't cried when her father had first yelled at her for being Gryffindor, the many times following he had yelled at her, or when her beloved grandmother had passed away. If she was crying, it had to be something really serious. Lily didn't get a chance to ask her, however, because not even three seconds after the tears had appeared she had run. She had just up and ran, right out of the Great Hall, closely followed by her older brother and their cousin.

"Catalina! Cat, wait!" Larisa shouted, running as fast as her legs could carry her. Lily wanted to follow them, but it was obvious that this was a family thing that only involved the Rostovs.

It was obvious that something bad had happened, considering that almost every Rostov at Hogwarts had left the Great Hall. Vladimir, Cat's younger brother had left not even a few seconds after they had, followed by his cousins Helen and Cassandra.

Cat herself was having a nervous breakdown in her head. The letter had been like a slap to the face, one of the nastiest surprises she'd ever received. She'd give nearly anything for that letter to be wrong. It really wasn't fair, at all.

"Catalina?" She heard her brother's hesitant voice call to her, coming from around one of the corners. "Come on, Cat. We'll need to go see Dumbledore to arrange… things. Unless you don't want to go home, that's completely understandable."

"Mum's dead, Mike." Cat hissed, "How can you be so calm? Why should I go home with him? He probably is the one that killed her!" She wanted to scream, but she didn't have the energy to do so. "You get along with him, usually! You have nothing to worry about at home! Vladimir is the perfect one, dad loves him! But me, the only thing stopping him from either killing or disowning me was her, and we both know it. We just don't want to admit it. Dad hates me, he tolerates you, but he loves Vlad… At least you get toleration for being a Ravenclaw."

"Cat, just calm yourself. Don't act so Thick for once. I get that you're upset, and you have reason to be. Right? But-"

"Bloody Hell, Mike! Just go talk to Dumbledore. I'm not in the mood, okay. I need to go walk for a bit, clear my head." Cat finally silenced him, walking in the oppiset direction from him and ignoring the calls from her cousin as she finally reached them.

"Come on, Isa. We need to talk to Dumbledore... Cat needs some time. She's not taking it all to well." He explained, walking back to the Great Hall to retrieve his belongings from the Ravenclaw table. Before leaving, he made his way over to the Gryffindor table to speak to his little sister's friends.

"You're Lily, right?" He asked the redhead that he'd seen his sister talking to many times throughout her time at Hogwarts. The girl meekly nodded, seeming slightly intimidated by him or weary. "They're has been… a death in the family. Cat is taking it pretty bad… She's my little sister, and I love her, trust me I do. I just don't know her that well. So I figure you'll be able to find her and help her more than I will. She doesn't want me around, she's already told me so. " He explained quietly, "I have to go speak with the Headmaster. Tell Cat I said to come talk to me when she feel's up to it."

"I'm gonna go look for her. Cat shouldn't be alone when she's this upset… she has a tendency to over think things and get herself in more trouble when she's upset…" Lily muttered, not knowing how right she was.

Far away from the Great Hall Cat's wandering had led her into a rather abandoned corridor. It was hardly used anymore, aside from the occasional snogging couple that borrowed one of the many abandoned class rooms. Cat had always wondered why, exactly, this corridor was never used, but she never bothered to ask. Hogwarts was huge and there were plenty of areas in it that were never used; by teachers that was. Pausing, she debated going in to one of the class rooms, but instead decided to sit down in the corridor.

An hour passed before anyone had stumbled on to the corridor, yanking Cat out of her own thoguhts. Usually, if Cat was thinking properly, she would have left at the sight of so many Slytherins in a single corridor. Right then, though, she just didn't give a crap. She had just as much right to be there as they did, and they weren't going to shove her out of the corridor.

"Oh, look." Avery drawled, "It's the only Gryffindor Rostov… What are you doing up here, little blood traitor?" He taunted, "Crying about your mummy like a pathetic little baby? I'm surprised… I thought you hated your family like they hated you."

"Shut up, you arse!" Cat swore, standing up from the ground and drawing her wand, "Why can't you just leave me alone? It's none of your business what I do!" She all but growled, "And you.." She turned to Snape, who had come with the boy, "This is why Lily hates you. The crap company you keep. To think that she considered you one of her best friends! You're a worthless piece of crap! You support that filthy 'dark lord'! If you were really ever Lily's friend, you would never do that. They kill people like her, they kill them without reason! " She lectured, seeing his dark eyes take on a murderous glint in them. She didn't care, though. She was too furious to care what Snape had to say about it.

"Shut your mouth, you filthy blood traitor." He warned darkly, drawing his own wand and pointing it straight at her. "Petrificus Totalus!" She heard him shout, Avery joining in with Hexes.

"Protego!" Cat shouted in response, " Confundo!" She tried to hit them, but they deflected.

"Crucio!" She heard Avery shout, dodging it. Was he completely barmy? Using an UNFORGIVABLE? Did he not know how much trouble he would be in?

"Protego!" She shouted again as a well aimed Stinging Hex came flying towards her, sending it back at Snape.

"Flipendo!" This one she didn't have a chance to dodge, and it sent her flying into the door of oe of the classrooms. She was quick to scramble up, making her way into the classroom and hiding behind a table, preparing to attack once they came in.

"Reducto!" She heard Avery shot, blasting the table she had been behind.

"Bloody Hell!" She cursed, "They're insane!" she said to herself, throwing "Impedimenta" and hitting Avery, but not Snape.

"Levicorpus." She heard Snape shout, causing her to curse as she was lifted in the air by her ankle, somehow managing to keep a hold on her wand. "Liberacrpus!" He shouted, sending her crashing down in the floor and smacking her head on one of the tables.

"Incarcerous!" Avery shouted, sending ropes to tie her up, making it impossible for her to move. She feebly tried to dodge, but wasn't fast enough. "Silencio." He added with an afterthought, giving her a sickening smirk. "Crucio!" She heard him shout again, immediately feeling the pain of the curse. She wanted to scream to the top of her lungs as she writhed, but the strong silencing charm prevented her from doing so. For how long he kept the curse on her, she did not know, but she did know that it felt like her whole body was going to shatter. Even the smallest movements were painful to her after he lifted it. Still, she feebly fought the ropes that were immobilizing her, managing to get her wand and arm out as she made an attempt to hit one or both of them with a spell of some sort.

"Expelliarmus" Snape said, almost lazily, disarming her, "Sectumsempra!" He shouted, a cruel laugh following as the spell cut into her. "You don't know me, Rostov. Don't assume you do. I don't care about that Evans anymore." He hissed, but she could tell he was trying to impress his friend. "Can't have you remembering what we've done…" He added, motioning from the girl who had just fallen unconscious to Avery.

"Obliviate." The other boy cast, not pausing for a second, he walked right over to her. Roughly, he lifted her body up, throwing it out in the corridor before casting a charm to remove all traces of blood of his and Snape's robes. "That'll teach the Blood traitor, won't it." Avery chuckled darkly, walking off, not noticing his companion's slightly worried glance back at the girl. He could only hope that someone would stumble upon the girl soon; she'd already lost quite a bit of blood.

Cat was fortunate in that aspect, as not even a few minutes after the two had left, had laughter come from a neighboring corridor as a boy ran down it. The second he'd tured the corner and saw the scene in front of him, however, the laughter was cut short.

"Bloody hell." He cursed as she saw the blood on the floor, walking up to the unknown girl, "Who the heck did they slaught-…" He stopped short, his breath caught in his throat as he realized who the girl was and he shouted, "Sirius, Remus! Quick, It's Cat! She…" He couldn't say it, he didn't think. She was pale, cold, and unmoving, "Hurry, we have to get her to Poppy!" He shouted as his two companions made their way in to the corridor. The two boy's crouched next to her as their friend backed up slightly, allowing them to see if there was anything they could do to help her before they tried to move her.

"Remus? Sirius?" A weak voice was heard, startling but relieving the boys, "It hurts… so much… I'm so tired…" Her darky, murky brown/green eyes were barely open, but it wasn't hard to see they were clouded over in pain and exhaustion. She groaned slightly as she felt her self being lifted up, grimacing in pain as she went in and out of consciousness.

"Sirius, mate, you need help carrying her?" James questioned as he moved forward.

"No, it's fine. Just run a head and tell Pomfrey what's up. I have to go slow with her.. Remus, you stay with me." He ordered, "Just in case she gets any worse…" He muttered, carefully readjusting the girl in his arms.

AN: I can't believe it's been nine chapters already! I'm really attached to the story myself… Don't think I could ever abandon it. It'd make me too sad.

So we'll see what happens to Cat in the next Chapter and if she ever finds out who did all the crap to her. We'll also get to see her brother's and cousin's reaction to the attack. This one's still not the best chapter, but I like it a million times better than the last one.


	10. Stuck Here Indefinitely

Disclaimer: I, Devin Ebony, do not own the Harry potter Series. The only things in this story that I in anyway own Is Catalina and the majority of her family.

"What happened? …. So much blood… so frail looking… the poor child… need to get the headmaster." Cat heard only small bits of what the woman was saying as someone sat her down on a bed, obviously trying the to be as gentle as possible. It wasn't gentle enough, though, and Cat let out a groan of pain before she snuggled down in to the pillow. She wasn't conscious for a minute more after she'd been placed on the bed.

The world was dark for what felt like no more than five minutes to her, but when she woke up she was no longer in the Hospital wing at Hogwarts; no, it was much brighter here. It was to white, it was unnaturally bright! It hurt her eyes to even open them. Though this could be because of the fact that she had been knocked out, she figured.

Opening her eyes again, she flinched as the brightness flooded around her. She caught a glimpse of red, black, and more white. Finally, she forced her eyes all the way open, giving herself a chance to adjust to the change. She knew where she was now, for she had been there once before as a child. Cat had been playing outside wither brothers, cousins, and a few of her father's friends children when she'd been sent flying into the wall of her house, stunned in to unconsciousness. It was later discovered that it had been a fight between two siblings and a rather sever case of accidental magic. Cat really hadn't cared what it was; she was more upset that she'd had to stay in the hospital with its nasty food than anything.

Sitting up, she couldn't help but smile a bit, despite still being a little sore and banged up. She knew that the nurses had to be rather irritated with the visitors that she had hauled up in her room. From the looks of it, though, she'd gotten a private room; she figured this was the doing of her father. They didn't like each other, but he wouldn't have his daughter looking like a _normal_ person. No, that wouldn't do… he had to pay and make a big deal out of it. At this point, she was kind of glad that he did.

On a couch that was sat in front of the window Michael, Larisa, and much to her surprise, Vladimir, were all sitting down and dead to the world. In a chair next to her bed, Lily was slumped over asleep. Marlene was sitting a bench at the foot of Cat's bed, slumped onto her hospital bed. Cat had to laugh when she saw that she was drooling slightly on the bed. Mary wasn't much better, though, from her spot on the ground by the door.

"Well," Cat drawled, her voice loud but slightly hoarse. She grinned when she succeeded in waking most of the room's occupants. "It's nice to see everyone here, I suppose…" She trailed, sounding a little bored, "But I'd like to know A. How long I've been here? B. When I can leave this place?" She inquired, quirking an eyebrow.

"Cat! She's up! You guys can come in, She's up! Mary announced, flinging the door open to reveal the people that were also sleeping outside of her room.

"Merlin's beard!" Cat shouted once she saw the rest of the sixth year Gryffindor girls AND the Marauders outside of her hospital room, "You'd think I was dying." She joked slightly.

"Oh, don't even joke about that!" Lily wailed, throwing her arms around her friend, "With how terrified Potter was when came to tell us, we thought you were! Even Dumbledore was really sullen! I thought they'd killed you!" She shirked, sounding both relieved and terrified at the same time.

"Poor Prongs nearly had a heart attack when he found you, and Moony and I weren't much better." Sirius added shaking his head.

"What, exactly, happened though? I remember the letter…" She paused, not wanting to think about her mum being dead, "Then I remember leaving the hall, a little spat with my brother, and then its fuzzy."

"Apparently they used the memory charm on you…" Remus muttered, "But it was weak, from what the healer said. Your memory still won't be enough to put them in Azkaban or anything, though. Its unreliable."

"Why would they put them in Azkaban? What did they do?" Cat asked, her eyes widening slightly.

"They used dark magic on you, an unforgivable at that. Whatever cut you, though… it's going to leave some nasty scars since it took a while to get you there and the dittany wasn't applied early enough… It helped some, but not like it should have." Lily explained awkwardly, "The cut that go on your cheek healed all the way, luckily. So it's only your side and part of your back that got any scarring." Cat cursed slightly.

"Not even an auror yet and I've already got scars on me… Oh well, I'll get more, just starting early, I guess." Michael didn't look pleased at this comment.

"I don't see how you can be calm or joking, Catalina. I mean, someone just attacked you. They most likely intended for you to die or something, and you joke. It's not funny, Cat. " He nearly hissed, his voice low and dangerous.

"No one jokes enough anymore, Michael!" Cat shot back, "We need to joke, especially in times like this. I mean, no one's safe anymore. Everyone has a chance at getting hurt… we need to lighten the mood. We can't all act like we have a stick up our arse, now can we?" She challenged,

"Mike's just being a wanker because he was worried about you. If he knew who did this I'm pretty sure they'd be in the morgue right now. Heck, if any of us knew who did this, we'd be putting them in the morgue." Larisa defended her older cousin, "Even Vlad; you know he doesn't like you much." Cat, finally thinking about that fact, quirked in eyebrow in questioning at her little brother.

"Family is family, even if you are a blood traitor. I'm not going to sit at Hogwarts after someone has attacked you… and I'm certainly not going to let someone attack you, like I said. You're still my older sister." He explained, his voice showing a little emotion for once.

"Wow. That oddly both touches and disgusts me at the same time." Cat announced with a chuckle, "I assume you'll be leaving now, though?" Cat questioned

"I supposed I should. It's Sunday, I need to finish my homework, and I also would rather not spend my day in a room full of Gryffindors." He affirmed, standing up to leave, "If you do happen to have a slight memory of who did this… don't hesitate to tell me and Mike." He added with a smirk.

"Creeper of a little brother…" Cat muttered as he walked out of the room, "Never does that kid cease to amaze me." She added, running a hand through her hair, which was in many knots and tangles. "Now, I know that I'm not leaving today, am I?"

"Not a chance." James announced, "My mum's the healer that's been taking care of you and she says the earliest you can leave is Monday night, if you're lucky." He added in explanation, rolling his eyes at Cat's huff in response. "What do you expect, Cat? They used an Unforgivable on you… There are going to be some consequences. Not to mention whatever spell it was the cut you up like it did. We weren't even expecting you to wake up for a few days with the way you looked… I thought you were dead at first. It looked like they'd massacred someone-."

"Well technically, they almost did." She interrupted, gaining a glare in response.

"Anyways," he drawled, giving Cat a glare, "Where was I when I was so rudely interrupted…" He joked, but continued speaking after he received a rather scary glare from Cat. "Mum said to be prepared for them to ask you questions. They want to see if you have any memory of the spell that did those cuts. That's what really did the most damage, honestly. The unforgivable was bad, no doubt about it, but you nearly bled to death with those cuts. I thought poor Padfoot was going to faint." He finished, clapping Sirius on the back.

"Since I'm stuck here indefinitely.." Cat complained, not liking the sound of that, "Am I able to use a bathroom? I'm not feeling all that amazing, right now. I must look like one of those homeless muggle people… There's still blood in my hair! It feels like it resembles Medusa's, which I'm sure it does. I know I can't look or smell all that amazing after all that stuff. " She continued complaining, sounding none to pleased.

"I, for one, thank you look just as gorgeous as ever." Sirius joked, a small smirk playing on his face as he finally silence her rant.

"Bugger off, Black."

AN: So Nothing Happens in this one, really. We get to see Vlad act like a normal brother and get to see Michael being a slight Prat, as per usual (as much as I love the kid, I will admit he is an idiot and a bit rude at times. Especially towards his family). Glad to see some more reviews and hits. Hope you guys like it! I'll be doing another one tomorrow er.. well, Today (Since it is around 2 or 3 am), hopefully.


	11. We Knew That Answer

Disclaimer: I, Devin Ebony, do not own the Harry potter Series. The only things in this story that I in anyway own Is Catalina and the majority of her family.

AN: Thanks for the Review. 3 Yeah, Vlad surprised everyone. He's really not that bad… just misguided by his parents and a little idiotic at times.

"Can I please just go back to Hogwarts?" Cat whined to a red haired, older lady. The woman glared slightly, shaking her head and muttering under her breath.

"Catalina Cassiopeia Rostov, I swear to Merlin if you don't stop asking me that-" Cat held her hands up in defense, looking rather worried about what the woman was going to say.

"Alright, Mrs. Potter! I'm sorry! It's just I've already missed so much! I have to keep up with my work, you know. We have a project in Astronomy that I should be working on, not to mention the-" Cat tried to defend her whining, but was interrupted.

"You'll be going back tonight, okay? Just take it easy, dearie. Poor James might not always seem like it, but he does think of you as a great friend, as do his other friends. Poor Sirius, you know that he's practically in love with you. I don't want to see any of them upset, especially not with the way things are now." Cat nearly rolled her eyes at this. What was it with people and thinking that Sirius was in love with her? First Dorcas and now Mrs. Potter, too. Were they both insane? Had they not heard or seen any of the fights that the two of them had of the years?

"I know, I know! I'll be fine, though, really. Whoever did this isn't stupid enough to try again, I don't suppose. I just want to catch up on my work and make sure I don't fall to far behind. I mean, I've already missed Charms class twice and Muggle Studies." Cat exclaimed, groaning slightly at the thought of the homework for her classes.

Cat's constant arguing with the nurses had gotten her exactly where she wanted to be; back in Hogwarts. For her, it was pretty much a normal everyday day. Nothing was out of the ordinary, minus her friends insisting to walk her to class, carry her rucksack for her, and a few other things amoung that. The Slytherins had been rather weird, though; Avery especially. He kept smirking as she walked past him. It gave her the feeling that he'd had something to do with her attack, but she couldn't really remember anything from that night.

Classes hadn't been too bad, due to the fact that it was early on in the year and she'd only missed Monday and Tuesday. Cat had to thank Merlin for that. She had not been looking forward to having to catch up on all the work she missed. Thankfully, her friends had been kind enough to make sure they had all the notes for her (mainly Lily, Dorcas, Alice, and Remus, that was). Muggle studies class was, as usual, easy for her considering she lived in the Muggle world part time, despite being pureblood. DADA had always been easy for her, just as charms and herbology were. She'd only really gotten work from her Arithmacy class. That was great for her, considering that Quidditch try outs were Friday and she'd have to be on the field.

The only thing that Cat really wasn't looking to that week was Saturday, the day that she'd have to go to her house and then to her mother's funeral. She wasn't sure if she was ready for that, seeing her mother dead and in a coffin. It certainly wasn't going to be a really pleasant experience. She had to go, though; it was her mum's funeral. It wouldn't be proper of her to just not show up. It would look bad on her part and it would no doubt raise many questions among her family's 'friends'.

"Ugh." Cat groaned as she flopped down on a couch in the Gryffindor Common room, happy that one of the longest school days that she'd ever had was finally over. She was so exhausted from everything in general. They really hadn't done much, but after being gone so long and still not feeling the greatest, the day had really taken it out of her.

"Tired Kit Kat?" Rose questioned, sitting on the chair near her. Rose, while usually quiet, was starting to warm up to the other girls a bit more. Cat was rather happy that she was, because the girl was really devious underneath all of the shyness. She could give all four of the marauders and the Prewett twins a run for their money.

"I guess, a little." Cat replied with a shrug, "Just thinking about Saturday. I'm not looking forward to seeing father again after what happened on the platform.." She wasn't sure if she'd even told the girl what happened, but if she hadn't, Rose didn't say anything about it. "I'm thinking about getting the rest of my stuff when I visit… Just so I don't have to go back anymore. I mean, I never go holidays; only Vlad and Mike go. Summer I go for two weeks, but I could just hang out with Lily or something. Then in August I turn seventeen, so I'm free to go where I want to go. " She smiled at that thought. No more being tied down by her family. She could do as she wanted, whenever she wanted. It seemed like a great plan, Cat figured. Maybe Saturday wouldn't be so bad after all? Cat had no idea just how wrong she was with that assumption.

-Saturday, September 11, 1978-

"Go get dressed, Catalina!" Her father had barked at her the second they'd arrived back home from her mother's funeral. They were having a gathering at their house for the rest of the people who hadn't been able to attend the extremely private funeral. It was pretty much just going to stuffy thing with lots of crying people that Cat didn't even know hugging all over her, offering condolences, and telling her how she resembled her mother.

"Yes, Father." Cat obeyed, motioning for her older brother to come with her up to her room after she'd changed. She was taking the rest of her clothes and belongings to Hogwarts with her, but she was going to have her brother help her get everything in a trunk and shrink it. She'd do it herself, but she wasn't seventeen, so she wasn't allowed to use magic out of school.

"Just get everything in the closet, on or in the dresser, on my shelfs, and what not in to my extra trunk." She explained as she opened the door to let him in, "Then shrink it for me so I can keep it in my pocket, okay?" She asked brushing her hair back into a high ponytail as she talked.

"Sure." He replied, doing just a few motions and having the majority of her room packed in the single trunk, "You sure this is the best idea? Dad might have a cow if he notices-" She cut him off.

"What's he going to do? I've got… what… After this year, I have July and August that he has custody of me. Then I'm free. Not to mention he never comes in here. He has no reason to. He put my room all the way on the other side of the mansion for a reason, Mike. He doesn't want to see it."

"Sure, whatever you say." He muttered, rolling his eyes.

"Let's just get back to him before he finds a reason to come up here." Cat snapped, grabbing the shrunken trunk and stuffing it into her pocket before heading back down the steps. The down stairs was already full of guests, many of whom she recognized as distant members of her family and assorted pureblood family members.

"The Blacks, Malfoys, LeStranges, they're all here." Michael warned as he followed her down the steps, "So try not to do anything… Don't talk about Gryffindor or Lily or anything. Just… Act like you're not you, basically. It'll make the night go quicker. The faster this is over, the faster you can go back to Hogwarts and see all of your friends again." He warned, walking past her to greet an older looking couple.

"Well," She heard a rather unnaturally 'kind' voice say, turning to see a rather pretty blonde lady "You must be Mrs. Rostov's daughter. You look just like her, doesn't she, Bella?" Cat observed the blonde, not quite sure who she was until she looked over at the girl she'd been talking to; Bellatrix Black, well, LeStrange, now.

"I suppose she does. She certainly doesn't look like her father, Cissy." The woman replied, sounding rather bored with the conversation, "She wouldn't be all that pretty if she did…" That was one truth that came out of her mouth. It was rather obvious that both she and her brothers had taken more after their mother in the looks department, seeing as their father wasn't all that handsome, really.

"Bellatrix! So rude." The blonde snapped, but Cat simply waved it off.

"No worries. I know that my father isn't the greatest looking man, he's rather plain. I'm not blind." Cat replied, giving a small, forced, smile, "It's nice to talk to you Mrs. Malfoy, Mrs. LeStrange." She greeted, receiving a curt nod in response from Bellatrix. She was surprised when she received a small hug from her sister, however.

"I am quite sorry to hear about your mother. She was a rather amazing woman, was she not?" She inquired, releasing Cat.

"She was rather interesting. She and father were quite the interesting pair, I suppose. " Cat agreed, giving a slight nod.

"So, I heard before she died that your mother and father were discussing a possible marriage with my aunt and uncle?" Narcissa continued prodding, seeming rather interested.

"From what I've heard others saying, they have. I have yet to hear of this fact from my father, though." She replied simply.

"Oh, well, if they are, I'm sure you and Reggie would be perfectly happy together." Cat somehow managed not to screw her face up at this, "I hear you are a Gryffindor, though, is this true?" She didn't sound all too pleased at this fact.

"Unfortunately," Cat managed to say, despite wanting to say the opposite, "it is true."

"No matter. I'm sure this fact can be over looked. From what I've seen of you, you seem to be a respectful young pureblood woman." She approved, giving her a small smile in response.

"Well, I'm glad to hear you think so, Mrs. Malfoy." Cat replied, "I really must be going, though. There are just so many different people here… Father wishes for me to greet as many of them as I can. You really must excuse me, it was wonderful chatting with you." She added, turning to move towards the other side of the semi-crowded room. As soon as she had left, she let out a breath of relief.

"She's odd. I don't like her." Cat had heard Bellatrix comment as she'd left, thinking she was out of hearing range.

"Don't be so rude, Bella." Narcissa had snapped once again, gaining a snicker in response from Cat.

"Ah, Catalina, my Dear. I've been looking all over for you." She nearly groaned when she stumbled over to where her father was speaking with a particularly stern looking, older couple.

"Hello, Father." She greeted curtly, "Sorry, I was speaking with Mrs. Malfoy and Mrs. LeStrange." She explained her disappearance, turning her attention back to the older couple.

"I want you to meet Orion and Walaburga Black. Their sons, Regulus and Sirius, attend Hogwarts with you, as I am sure you are aware of." He introduced, giving her a look that dared her to do anything to embarrass him in front of them.

"Yes, sir. Both rather charming boys." She confirmed, " I can see where they get their great looks from. " She added, directed towards his parents. Even for an older (and extremely nasty, as she'd heard many times) couple, it was obvious that both of them had been gorgeous in their youth and still were for their age. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Sir, Ma'am." She added, curtseying slightly.

"Pleased to meet you as well, Ms. Rostov." The woman, Walaburga, greeted, though she didn't seem overly happy, "So, I've heard you're a Gryffindor, in sixth year?" She interrogated, more question on the Gryffindor part.

"Unfortunately, I am, Ma'am." Cat confirmed, quickly growing bored of the conversation.

"At least she has manners, which is less than I can say for many of the other young pureblood ladies I have met." Orion commented, surveying her, as if she were something in a store for sale, "And she is certainly good in the looks and family department." He added.

"She certainly has manners. Her mother and I brought her up to be respectful." Her father stated, putting hand on her shoulder, "You may go, Catalina. I have something to discuss with Mr. and Mrs. Black, privately."

"Certainly, Father. Good bye, Ma'am, Sir." She curtsied again, muttering to herself as she walked the other way. If she didn't get to leave soon, she was going to go crazy.

Cat got her wish not even two hours later. At midnight, it was time for them to return to the Hogwarts Castle. Michael was going to apparate, first with Vladimir, and then with Cat. They would then have to talk bak up to the castle.

"Catalina, I was most pleased with your actions tonight." Her father approved as they sat in his study, waiting for Michael to come back from delivering Vlad, "You are almost making up for the fact that you are a Gryffindor." Cat looked up to face him, seeming uncaring.

"I'm sure I am…" She muttered to herself, turning to stand in front of the fire that was lit in the room. It was giving off warmth and yet it still felt frigid to her.

"What was that?" He snapped, glaring straight at her.

"Nothing, Father." She lied, "Is there anything else that you wished to say?" She questioned, hoping that they're would not be.

"One more chance, Catalina. Come back home this summer and stay. As I'm sure you've heard, I found you a suitable husband, despite your horrible choices thus far. Change your ways now, and you are welcome to stay in the family. Or else, you shouldn't bother returning this summer. I'm done now, you will be disowned. Choose wisely, Catalina, because being a blood traitor is not such a great thing." He warned, interrupted only when his son popped in to his office. "Well, Catalina? Speak now, girl." Cat smirked slightly as she turned away from the fire to look her father in the eyes. Not looking away, she grabbed her brother's arm, ready to leave the house that she'd grown up in permanently.

"I think you know my answer, Father. Goodbye"

AN: So now get to see how Cat's life at home is. Or… how it is when guests are around. It's not so great when they're not having a party of some sort. Fairly stiff and boring, unless she and her dad are arguing. We do see what Cat's decision for herself, is though, as she finally starts growing up a little bit and caring less and less about what her family thinks of her choices. Story will be speeding up some now. :D


	12. A Name Like That

Disclaimer: I, Devin Ebony, do not own the Harry potter Series. The only things in this story that I in anyway own Is Catalina and the majority of her family.

AN: Thanks for the review. 3 yes, Cat was raised differently from most people. She was raised to be the perfect daughter. She was the "trophy daughter" for her parents. Her father treated her like a doll that was on display while she was growing up, so she's gotten used to it. Just like he was doing in the last chapter; advertising her for a marriage to a pureblood. Now she's grown up, become herself, and she had a lot of trouble NOT slapping them, I think.

"Dad isn't going to be happy, Catalina." He brother scolded after they appeared out side of the gate to Hogwarts with a pop, "He's not going to be pleased at all. He may have given you a 'choice', but you know how he is."

"He's got me for less than a year now, Mike. There isn't much he can do about it. Once I hit seventeen I'm completely free to do and say as I like." She shot back, "He'll have no control over me what so ever." That part sounded like a dream. It was amazing to think that she might never have to see her father again after August. She could move on, finish up her schooling, and start her own life. "Let's just get in…." She muttered, "I told Lily and the others not to wait up. Knowing them, they're all down in the common room waiting for me to come in." He chuckled, throwing and arm over her shoulder.

"You should be glad to have friends like that. 'least you know that they'll always help you if you need them." He stated, ruffling her hair a bit.

"Jerk." She muttered, shoving him lightly, "Don't mess with the hair." She warned, "You can get to the Ravenclaw Common room. The teachers all know where we were, they won't say anything to me for being out late." She added.

"Alright." Mike replied with a sigh, running a hand through his hair, "Think about what I said though. You need to be careful with dad." He warned, walking in the opposite direction from her.

"I will." Cat declared, giving him a hug before she turned to leave. She really did think about what Mike had said a lot. She wasn't stupid; she knew her dad wasn't someone to mess with. There wasn't much she could do about it, though. She couldn't just listen to him, ditch her friends, obey his every word, and marry some stuck up pureblood. She wanted her own life, and that was what she was going to get. As soon as she graduated, that was.

" I thought I said not to stay up?" Cat declared sarcastically as she walked through the portrait hole of the Gryffindor common room, a small smile playing on her face.

"Like you actually thought that we would listen to you." Marlene scoffed, rushing over to throw her arms around her friend, "You look like you've been put through hell tonight. So tired looking!" she exclaimed.

"Oh. Thanks, Marlene. That's exactly what I wanted to hear." Cat joked as she was released, only to have another person nearly squeeze the life out of her.

"I really wish I could have come to support you, Cat." Lily remarked, "but I know that wouldn't have been the best idea with your father."

"Oh, nothing pleases my father, so you won't ever have to worry about that, Lils." She stated, waving a hand in dismissal, "I mean, I pretty much got disowned tonight for not agreeing to ditch my friends and marry some stuffy pureblood."

"He disowned you tonight, of all nights?" Mary exclaimed, shock and anger evident on her face.

"Not officially, but pretty much." She glanced over to where Sirius and the other Marauders were sitting, "He was pretty much showing me of to your parents the whole night, like I was some kind of prize or something." She commented, looking directly at Sirius.

"My parents?" He snorted, "So, you've met them then?" He questioned.

"Yeah. Dad seems to have thought that Regulus and I would make a charming couple. Your parents were discussing it with him the whole night..." She made a face, shuddering slightly at the thought. "Not to friendly, really. They were looking at me like I was something they were about to purchase." She added, rolling her eyes slightly.

"Well, they can only get the best for Reggie." He mocked with a snort, "They've never been Friendly, Catalina. That's was the point behind me moving in with the Potter's. If they were friendly, I wouldn't be living with them for the holidays."

"Yeah, I know. That reminds me, though." She responded, turning to Lily, "I've got the rest of my stuff from my room in my pocket. You're sure your mum and dad don't mind me coming early? I mean, I won't be able to go home at any point this Summer once I come, Lils. I don't want to be a burden on them. If I will, just tell me and I'll try and see if I can find-" She began rambling, but was stopped when Lily smacked a hand over her mouth.

"Merlin, Cat." The redhead huffed, rolling her eyes, "You know my parents think of you like a second daughter! They'd do anything for you. Of course they don't mind you coming over for an extra two weeks. My family can get over it when they come to visit, mum has already said so. If they don't like having to share the house with you, they can go stay somewhere else, then." She assured her, "I'm sure they won't, though. My grandparents are really sweet." She added as an afterthought.

"Great." Cat replied with a smirk, "I'm never going to have to go back to that horrid place again." She stated, a grin slowly making its way on her face, "you know, I've been looking forward to this day since the last day of school during first year. Dad's been unbearable since he found out about me being in Gryffindor." She rolled her eyes as she replayed the memory of her father's reaction when she'd come home, "Catalina Cassiopeia Rostov!" She mocked, doing a near perfect imitation of her father's voice, "How could you be sorted in to Gryffindor? What were you thinking.. THE SHAME!" She began laughing lightly at the end, remembering the hilarious way that her father's face had contorted while he'd yelled.

"Cassiopeia?" James questioned, a smirk forming on his face, "What a lovely name.." He joked.

"Oh, hush, you!" Cat growled, walking over and hitting him upside the head, "It's just as good as James Harold Potter." She snapped.

"Nah. Harold is a million times better than _Cassiopeia._" He replied, dodging another hit to the head, "Look at the bright side, though! A name like that, It'll fit in once you get married…" James informed her, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

"Why's that?" Cat inquired cautiously, not quite sure if she really would want to hear his question.

"Because, you're going to marry Sirius." He announced, grinning broadly, "His whole family has star names; Regulus, Sirius, Andromed-" He didn't get to finish, though, because Cat had taken a pillow off one of the couches and swung it right into his face. "MERLIN!" He exclaimed, fixing his glasses, "With an arm like that, you shouldn't have tried out for chaser! You'd have made a fantastic beater." Cat smirked at this, ruffling up James' already messy hair.

"Nah. I don't have the coordination to use a bat and hit something that hard." She replied with a shrug, "Plus, with a head like that, you'll always get the full blow of the punch. Your head is bloody huge, Jamsie boy, no one could ever miss by any margin. You really should look in to deflating it some…" She teased, receiving a glare in response, "Well, off to bed with me." She announced, "Night everyone, see you lot in the morning." She added, making her way over to the girls' dorms steps, slowly trudging up them.

"Night, love! See you in the morning!" Sirius called jokingly, blowing her a kiss for added comedy.

"Sirius Black, I swear to Merlin that I will-" She began threateningly, reaching for her wand.

"Sheesh, woman! Don't get your knickers in a twist!" He shouted to her, turning back to his friends as she entered the sixth year dorms. "Bird can't even take a joke…" He muttered to his friends with a chuckle.

"I heard that, Black!" A shout came from the dorms, sounding rather amused.

"Our Children are never going to get away with anything, Prongs." Sirius whined comically, smirking when he heard the frustrated scream that came from the girls' dorms.

AN: Hope this one's okay. ^_^ Had to slip a little comedy in and I wanted to show some more interactions between Sirius and Cat. The story will really start picking up pace now.


	13. Give Him a Chance

Disclaimer: I, Devin Ebony, do not own the Harry potter Series. The only things in this story that I in anyway own Is Catalina and the majority of her family.

The bitter cold had settled over Hogwarts quickly and snow had come just as fast. Despite it being just November sixth, they'd already had two blizzard like storms. The pure white had completely covered the grounds, making it look like a winter wonderland. It was in this 'wonderland' that Catalina Rostov and her best friend, Lily Evans, were playing, acting as if they were first years again. For them, it was a day to relax and forget about all that was happening in the world. Everything had gotten complicated lately; dating, school, and Voldemort. Voldemort especially was a complicated and particularly stressful subject.

Voldemort had gotten worse since September. The summer it's self had seen six murders of Muggles, Muggle-borns, and those against the dark lord. September alone had seen four, followed by seven in October, and already two more for November. It was a thought that absolutely terrified Cat. She was considered a blood traitor now, and would especially be considered so once her father officially disowned her. Some of her best friends were Muggle-born; the people who treated her like their own daughter were Muggles. It was hard to think that they were all possibly in danger of receiving one or more of the unforgivable curses in the next few years.

"You know what, Lily?" Cat stated as she feel back in to a mound of snow, next to her friend "I've been thinking-" She continued, but was interrupted by her fellow redhead.

"Merlin! It must be the end of the world!" Lily shrieked jokingly, getting a playful shove.

"Oh, hush up!" Cat exclaimed playfully, "anyways, I was thinking about taking Black up on his offer for a date to Hogsmeade next weekend." She stated, looking over to her friend to see if she had any reaction to her revelation.

"Finally!" The other girl exclaimed, a huge grin taking over her whole face, "Finally! Finally!" She continued, getting a weird look from Cat. "What?" She asked defensively, "It's true! He's practically been in love with you since third year, after you punched Mulciber in the face. But… What's made the sudden change of heart?" She questioned curiously.

"Well, I don't know, really." Cat admitted, "He's been asking me out since the end of Third year, and I always thought he was joking around, you know? I mean, he likes to joke around and mess with people. It's been more than two years, though. So I figured I may as well give the bloke a chance. I still don't think he's 'practically in love' with me, as everyone keeps putting it, but he's obviously taking it somewhat serious if he's still asking me out. Not to mention that we only have this year and next year left for school. I may as well give him a chance at some point, right." She explained, sitting up and dusting snow off of her jumper.

"You don't think he is, because he's not big on showing emotions openly. You have to watch him closely. I'm not trying to sound rude to you, of course, but you're kind of oblivious when it comes to that kind of stuff. You're a really caring person, of course, but you don't notice how people feel all that easily." Lily explained.

"Either way." Cat stated with a shrug, "Now all we have to do is get you on a date with our very own Mr. James Potter." Cat teased, smirking slightly at her best friend.

"No way! I will never go out with that… that… arrogant Toe-rag!" Lily shirked, her face becoming nearly as red as her face.

"Then why do you encourage me to go out with his best friend? Sirius is pretty much the exact same way that James is!" Cat interrogated, turning to look straight at her friend with a confused look on her face.

"Sirius isn't quite as bad as James, usually." Lily defended, "Besides, you two just make sense!" She declared stubbornly, "You're opposite in many ways, but also similar in a lot of them." She tried explaining, "Both of you are from Pureblood families and were expected NOT to be placed in Gryffindor, which you did the opposite of. Both of you despise your family's views on blood and rebel against your parents' wishes. You both put your friends before anything. Don't even try to say you don't!" Lily shouted near the end, seeing the eye roll she'd received, "You'd do anything for me, Mary, Marlene, any of the girls; you know it. Same goes for the marauders. Both of you are really brave, and that's a fact that many people can vouch for. Just the fact that you're in Gryffindor proves that fact." She concluded.

"I guess we are similar… doesn't make us the 'perfect' couple any more than it does you and James." Cat muttered as she stood up from the ground, offering a helping hand for her friend to stand up.

"Whatever you say, Cat. Just go on that date to Hogsmeade, and then tell me that you two don't make the perfect couple. If you can do that, then I'll be happy."

Cat was hoping that she wouldn't be able to do that, really. The only reason she'd been holding off on giving him a chance since fifth year was because she was worried he'd only seen her as a challenge and not an actual person. She was worried that he'd get a date with her and then just ditch her because he'd finally gotten what he'd been working for a little over a year for. Sirius could be a complete prat at times, but she didn't take him for that big of an arse.

"Hey, Remus!" She called out as she walked back in the castle, snow still sticking to her hair and clothes. The sandy haired boy turned around confused, but gave the girl a small, weak smile. Cat couldn't help but notice how pale and sickly the boy bloke looked. "Are you feeling okay?" She questioned as she jogged to catch up with him.

"I'm fine, Cat. Just the weather, I suppose." He replied easily, but Cat suspected he was lying, "Did you need something?" He inquired curiously, looking down at the girl.

"Yes." Cat replied, a grin beginning to form on her face once again, "Can you tell me where Sirius is? I need to talk to him." She questioned, receiving a knowing smirk from Remus.

"I'm not really sure. I saw him and James around here somewhere. So I'm sure if you walk around, you'll find them. Just look for Slytherins with red and gold hair or something, knowing them." He joked lightly.

"Of course." Cat muttered, but still smiled, "And they want to know why all of the Slytherins seem to loath us?" She questioned jokingly, rolling her eyes toward the ceiling. "Well, I best get looking." She added, giving him a small hug before she rushed off to search for the boys.

Normally, James and Sirius were never this hard for her to find. She suspected it was because James stalked Lily and Sirius stalked her, but she had no real evidence of this fact. Today, though, it had already taken her the better part of an hour and she still had seen no sign of either of them. It was like they'd vanished and were hiding from her or something. She was pretty sure that they didn't have any reason to be hiding from her, if they were, that is.

She'd learned pretty quickly that they were, in fact, not hiding from her. Well, Sirius wasn't; James was still nowhere to be seen. Finding Sirius, however, didn't exactly make her all that happy. Well, not with the way she'd found him. Cat had been wandering down a corridor and was just about to give up looking for him and go back to the common room when he'd stumbled out of a broom closet. That wouldn't have upset her so much if he was alone, but that would make no sense, of course. No, he hadn't been alone by any definition of the word. Stumbling out with him was fairly beautiful (in Cat's opinion, at least), blonde girl from Hufflepuff in their year.

"Oh…" Cat muttered, catching the attention of the two, "Well, I was looking for you to ask you something, Sirius, but I suppose I'll ask you are a more convenient time." She tried joking, failing miserably. It was obvious that something was irritating her, anyone with common sense could tell that. "Nice to see you, Ashley. I better get going! See you in Charms on Monday!" She called, turning around to make an escape for the Gryffindor Common Room.

"Hey, wait! Rostov! Oh, come on!" Sirius yelled as they girl sped up, not turning back. He gently released his arm from the blonde's grip, ignoring her protests, "Sorry," He muttered, but he had more important things to do; he had to figure out what had Cat so mad with him. He knew, just as well as anyone else did, that once she was mad with you, it was hell trying to get her to talk to you. Not to mention she had quite the temper and particular fondness of revenge. "And I'm so dead" He muttered to himself as reached the end of the corridor and saw Cat nowhere in sight.

AN: Still short, but like I said, its speeding up a bit more. ^_^ Hope everyone likes the story so far. I have the next few chapter outlines done already. Can't wait to get them finished and up! Thank you for any reviews again. I like to get some feedback so I know if I'm doing anything particularly bad or good.


	14. Jealous over nothing

Disclaimer: I, Devin Ebony, do not own the Harry potter Series. The only things in this story that I in anyway own Is Catalina and the majority of her family.

Over a whole month had passed since Cat had ran off and refused to talk to Sirius, Black as she now continuously referred to him as. This fact had the boy baffled and confused as to what he'd done to deserve that behavior; they'd actually been getting along for once! Then, all of a sudden, she'd mad at him and refuses to talk to him. He'd been hexed four times in the first week for trying to talk to her, before he finally gave up. It was miserable now, though.

Cat refused to talk to James, Remus, or Peter while Sirius was around, which meant that most of the time she avoided all four of them. That also meant that the other Gryffindor girls tended to avoid them too, besides classes. Once you offended one of the girls in the group, it was like you'd offended all of them; even if you didn't know what you'd done! It was a frustrating situation for all involved.

"Sirius, you have to talk to that girl!" Remus all but growled, finally tired of being avoided by all seven of the girls, "I don't know what you did! She was so happy when she went looking for you! I don't know how you could have made her THIS angry with you that quickly." He muttered under his breath.

"I didn't do anything! She's barking mad, Moony." He groaned, flopping back on his own bed, "All I did was appear in front of her and she got all irritable and ran off. Hasn't talked to me since! Well, at least not in a civil manner." He whined, sounding like a little child.

"Go find her and ask her to talk. Tell her you don't know what you did. Just don't be you-" Remus started.

"Don't be ME?" Sirius stressed, quirking an eyebrow.

"You know what I mean! Don't be loud or obnoxious and she might actually listen to you for once." He snapped in reply, "She's not that bad, Sirius. You just need to know how to talk to her."

Sirius grumbled under his breath irritably. Remus had never gotten on Cat's bad side, he knew this; they were good friends, really. So how would he have any idea how bad Cat could be? He wasn't the one that had been on the receiving end of the hexes! Sirius, for one, didn't fancy getting hit with another stinging hex anytime soon.

"Either you go talk to her or-" Remus started to shout, but a smirk appeared on his face and his eyes lit up; Sirius gulped. That was never good. Remus was the most mild of all of the marauders, but when he had his mischievous moments, they were ten times as bad as anything He or James could do. "On second thought, don't do it." He declared, "I've got a rather interesting idea if you don't." He added.

"You know, today's a great day to talk to Cat!" Sirius announced, hopping off his bed to rush out of the dorm, "I mean, I'm sure she won't hex me if I do like you said." He added, muttering to himself, "Or her hex won't be as bad as whatever idea he has come up with now."

"Evans!" He called, happy to see the red haired girl wasn't off in the library studying once again, "Evans, I need to know where Catalina is. I need to ask her something." He explained, "Do you happen to know where she is?" He knew he really didn't even have to ask her that. Lily almost always knew where Cat was; they'd practically been attached at the hip since the start of the year feast in first year.

"I know where she is." Lily replied coldly, "But I'm not all that sure I should be telling you, of all people, that bit of information." She snapped, "She's not all that fond of you, in case you haven't noticed. "

"Come on, Evans. I need to find out what it was that I did so I can apologize to her. I promise I'm not going to be an obnoxious prat." He bit out, not liking the fact that he was having to beg the girl for her location.

"Whatever you say, Black. If you end up with boils or huge teeth, it's not my fault." She warned, "She's outside. Last I saw she was near that tree by the lake and laying in the snow." She relented, standing up to leave. "Good luck, Sirius. Try not to anger her any more than you already have." She added, giving him a small smile.

"I'll try not to do that…" He muttered, running back up the steps to get his winter jacket and cloak before he went out in to the bitter cold.

It had been overly freezing and dreary in the last few months. It felt as if there was no happiness left in world at sometimes. Sirius posted part of the blame o the tragedies that seemed to be occurring left and right. Just since the beginning of school there had been about twenty plus murders, not to mention ones in the Muggle world that had never been discovered. It was getting out of hand and even the ministry, as ignorant as they usually were, were starting to notice.

Walking through the snow slowly, Sirius had to stop a few times to free himself from rather dense areas of snow. They'd just had another blizzard not even a day ago and the snow had accumulated atop the snow left over from the previous storms. It made walking on the grounds fairly difficult and chilling (when you got stuck in a pile of snow). Sirius was more than pleased when he finally saw Cat, laying on the snow, not far away; he wouldn't have to walk much more in the mess. Just the whole way back to the castle…

"Cat!" He called as he trudged over, startling the half asleep girl. "Cat, we need to talk-"

"Merlin, why?" Cat exclaimed dramatically, looking up to the sky, "I was perfectly happy, enjoying the snow, Black. Why did you choose now to bother me?" She growled, turning back to the boy in question.

"You like this?" He shouted incredulously before he could stop himself.

"Yes, I do. Do you have a problem with that, Black?" She interrogated coldly, her eyes clearly showing her irritation.

"no, Of course no." Sirius responded defensively, "But it's like I said. We need to talk. I need to know why you're mad at me, Cat." He explained, sitting down on the snow next to her and giving an involuntary shiver.

"I'm mad because-" She began shouting as she sat up straight, but then stopped for a second, her face heating up, "I'm just mad at you Sirius! I don't want to explain it." She shouted with a groan, falling back into the cold snow.

"Come on, Rostov. Just explain it to me! You refuse to talk to me and avoid me… The girls all avoid me, too! Half the time my friends are with me, so they get ignored. Do you know how many times I've had James, Remus, and even Peter yell at me in the last month because none of you guys will speak to them around me?" He finally yelled, sounding just as frustrated as she was, "I deserve to at least know why you won't talk to me. We were actually getting along this year, could have almost been considered friends. Then you just get mad and won't talk to me!"

"Alright." Cat relented, sitting back up and pulling her knees to her chest as she looked over the lake.

"Finally…" Sirius muttered under his breath to himself, happy to finally be enlightened as to what exactly he'd done to make her so angry.

"So I'm sure you remember what you were doing that day." She began explain, her voice sounding slightly snappish, "You'd asked me out that morning I'd told you to try no. But then I talked to Lily about it because I felt bad. I mean, you've asked me out a lot since third year. Not like James does to Lily, but still a lot." She paused for a moment, taking another breath, "Well Lily and I talked, and I told her that I was thinking about telling you once for a change. She was ecstatic about it, but I guess I was weary. Most guys chases and chase, and then once they get a snog out of the girl, they drop her. I've had enough of those boyfriends." Her voice took on a slightly snappish tone once again, "So anyways… I wasn't sure, but Lily convinced me to go tell you. I went to find you, and I found you with Ashley. It got me thinking, I guess." She shrugged, letting some of it soak in before she continued onward. "I couldn't help but wonder about you. I mean, you ask me out that morning, snog Ashley a few hours later. I know you're not usually off snogging girls, despite what rumors those girls would have us believing, but still. If you can just bounce back from me saying no like that, then who's to say you won't just dump me after a few days? Then I got mad at you for asking me out in the first place if you weren't going to be serious about it, I guess." She let out a breath, happy to finally have all of the anger off of her chest.

"That was it the whole time?" Sirius asked with a groan, "Merlin, Cat! That was a fan girl! She dragged me into the closet a few minutes before and wouldn't let me out. Didn't you see how messed up her clothes were? And how upset she looked? I was trying to get out the whole time I was in there. She was holding me captive! I wasn't snogging the crazy bird!" He exclaimed, "If we'd talked about this a month ago.." He teased, grinning as he noticed the flush that was now appearing across the girls cheeks.

"Shut up, Sirius!" She shouted, holding her face in her hands to hide her flaming cheeks and her laughter.

"So it's not Black anymore?" He teased some more, getting a punch to the stomach in response. "Shesh, Woman!" He groaned jokingly "That hurt so much." He mocked, his grey eyes sparkling slightly. "So, Rostov, now that we're over our jealousy…" He began.

"BLACK!"

"Only joking, dear." Was his defensive response, "What would you say to a date next weekend?"

AN: Glad I finished this one today! Two chapters in one day! I'm happy. Hope everyone is enjoying the story.  
I know in most stories Sirius is portrayed as a player… But I wanted to take a different approach. So he isn't a total man-slag in this story. Hope that's okay with everyone! That's not going to mean he won't get in trouble with girls, of course; he's got Cat, his fan club, and the fact that he is a man to give him girl trouble.


	15. A Trip to Hogsmeade

Disclaimer: I, Devin Ebony, do not own the Harry potter Series. The only things in this story that I in anyway own Is Catalina and the majority of her family.

For Cat, waking up next weekend on the day that she and Sirius were supposed to be just a normal day. She was going to get dressed in some jeans, t-shirt, a hoodie, and throw her hair up in a ponytail. Her friends wouldn't allow this to happen though, of course. They insisted that she wake up early and let them pick the best outfit, do her makeup (which she NEVER wore unless it was a really special occasion), and her hair.

"Guys, why do I need to dress up for Sirius?" She whined, rolling her eyes as they plopped her in front of a vanity, "I don't need to put on makeup, Marlene!" She shirked as the blonde came towards her with an eye pencil, "That's for really important events! "

"You're date with Sirius IS an important event! You've finally said yes after nearly two and a half year of refusing to go out with him!" Marlene protested, holding Cat still forcibly as she applied a thin layer of makeup to her face, "Besides, it's not much. A little eyeliner, mascara, eye shadow, blush, and lip stick and gloss should be fine." She insisted confidently, continuing with her attack on her best friend's face.

"Merlin, I feel like a Barbie doll!" Cat shrieked in dismay as her hair was pulled every which way by Rose and Lily.

"Barbie doll?" Marlene questioned curiously, pausing in her work to give Cat a confused look.

"Purebloods…" Mary muttered under her breathe, jokingly as she dug through Cat's trunk, looking for outfits for her to wear.

"Oi! I'll have you know, I'm half-blood! I just haven't been out of the wizarding world much in my life…" Marlene exclaimed, glaring at the back of the other girl's head.

"It's a doll that Muggle little girls play with and dress up." Cat explained, watching the girls cautiously in the mirror to make sure they weren't doing anything to outrageous to her.

"Don't you have any other clothes?" Mary whined, looking frustrated, "Just some hoodies, old jeans, t-shirts, and school uniforms in here!" She exclaimed, shocked by her friends lack of clothing.

"Try the trunk that she had her brother shrink. My mum bought her lots of nice stuff to wear on days off and her mum did too. She just doesn't wear it often. " Lily informed her, smirking at the face that Cat made.

"Guys, is this really all necessary?" She inquired, "I mean, will Sirius just stop liking me after two and a half years if I don't dress up and wear makeup for him? He's liked me without it for this long, so why shouldn't he be able to continue liking me this way?"

"Cat, it's been almost a year since you've gone out because of that idiot last year, we just want you to have the best time possible." Marlene explained, patting her on the head like one would a small child, "Besides, it's fun playing dress up Catalina."

"This is more like it!" Mary squealed after she'd enlarged the trunk to its full size and dug into its contents. "You should wear that stuff more often! In fact, I'm going to make sure you do!" Cat groaned at this comment, barely suppressing the urge to bang her head on the vanity surface repeatedly.

"What? I know you don't care much about style, but a lot of these are nice! And they're not all that uncomfortable really, or slaggy. So they wouldn't look bad!" Mary insisted, but it was no use. Cat wasn't going to budge on her opinion.

"I got it!" Lily squealed, brandishing her wand and waving it and charming Cat's hair in to calm waves rather than her wild curls, "It's perfect!" She squealed, "Just like how you used to keep it. I don't know why you stopped, by the way. The curls must be difficult to take care of." Cat shrugged in response, praying that they were almost done with everything.

"I got what Cat's going to be wearing." She'd pulled out a mini skirt, warm tights, a t-shit that Cat had always found just a bit too tight, and her uncle's (her mum's brother) old, leather jacket. Cat rolled her eyes, deciding it best not to argue with her choice. It was cold out, but she knew very well that both the jacket and the tights had been charmed to keep the wearer warm by her mother forever ago.

"Alright. It's not too bad." Cat reasoned with a shrug, standing up as soon as Marlene was finished with her make-up and Lily had finished rearranging her waves. Grabbing the clothes, she was quick to run in to the bathroom and switch her PJs out for the outfit she was being forced to wear. It actually didn't look all that bad for something Mary had managed to pick out, and that was saying something.

"See?" Mary exclaimed, clasping her hands together in delight, "It looks perfect. And you can wear the black boots that Mrs. Evans got you for Christmas last year." She added.

"Good job, Mary! That looks amazing on her!" Lily Squealed in excitement, making sure that her hair hadn't been messed up while she'd changed. "I think you're ready to go meet Sirius." Lily announced, grabbing her own coat from off the end of her bed, "We're meeting him at The Three Broomsticks, correct?"

"Yep. We're meeting at twelve and spending two hours together. So we have a little more than half an hour to get down there and an hour and a half to shop around." Cat replied, zipping up her jacket as she made her way out of the dorm and down the steps in to the common room and out the door.

"Wow. Catalina is cleaning up well. Nice to see that she's over that bloke." She heard a girl in the year above her comment as they walked out of the portrait hole, clambering into the corridor.

"Well. Nice to know that I look well?" Cat commented, her voice sounding questioning.

"Ignore the comments, Kitty." Lily declared, throwing an arm around her shoulders.

"I don't care. They're not saying anything untrue or cruel, so it's not bothering me much." Cat shrugged.

"Oh well. Either way. You don't need them." Lily added, "I mean, you have all of us! We're awesome enough to keep you happy…" She grinned suddenly, "Besides, now you have a special boy, to, don't you…" She teased.

"Oh, hush up, Evans." Cat joked, shoving her friend lightly.

"So, where should we go first once we get down there?" Mary piped up as they approached the entrance hall, about to go out in to the bitter cold of December weather.

"I need to get some ink." Rose said, coming out of the conversation that she was having with Alice about boys, Frank Longbottom, for specifics.

"Hmm… I need some new Quills and Ink." Cat agreed, "I also want to stop by Honeydukes. My chocolate stash is running low." She added, "I guess it's a good thing I had some money hidden from my parents.. Well, I think mum knew, but dad had no clue. So I've got enough for whatever I need this year, some clothes, and then next year's supplies. I think I'm going to get myself a job this summer, though."

"You know mum is going to buy you anything you need. You know how much she adores you." Lily chuckled, "So just spend the money you managed to save up. School supplies and stuff are covered, for sure."

They all shivered as the cold air hit them once they stepped outside. It was frigid, but not just in the sense of temperature. The atmosphere was cold, lifeless. It didn't feel like it should, being so close to Christmas time. Cat didn't like the feel that it gave her. It had felt almost the same way on the day that her mother had died. The sky was even worse than it had been that day; it was gloomy, dreadful grey. The beauty that snow usually gave the grounds was completely shattered.

"Not a particularly nice day out here, is it?" Rose joked, trying to break the silence as they walked the path towards Hogsmeade. The whole walk it was slowly and steadily growing colder and colder.

"I don't like it." Cat commented, "But I guess I'm being silly. It's just the rain and the snow lately, I guess. I think we're about to get another storm… but let's look at the bright side," She paused, "Christmas is coming up in just two weeks. We'll be warm with our friends and have our gifts." She smiled slightly.

Christmas had always been Cat's favorite holiday of all. It was the one time of year that her family was tolerable. They all gathered at her house, which was the largest, and stayed together for two weeks. Christmas there was a big feast and tons of gifts to be opening. New Years they had the fireworks, more food, and a party. It was the one time that Cat actually like her house. It wasn't dark and gloomy, but full of her cousins and her siblings, all talking amongst each other. Even some of her extended family would come to their house, family who she almost never heard from.

"I can't wait to get home to my family…" Mary muttered, more to herself than anyone, "I've been so worried about them with all the things happening lately, you know… I'm just glad nothing has happened to them yet." The pause afterwards led into another, more peaceful silence. They all had something to be grateful for. Minus Cat, who's mother had not died at the hands of Voldemort and his followers, none of them had lost any of their family, yet. The key word, though, was yet. It was horrible to think about, but the reality was that there was a war coming up. It would be unlikely for all of their family members to survive the battles, especially with them being mostly blood traitors, Muggle, or Muggle borns.

"Here we are." Cat announced, all but skipping toward Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop once it came in to view. Rose chuckled, following her friends examples and laughing the whole while.

"I need a few bottles of Black ink, since my other bottles broke…" Cat muttered to herself as she looked at the shelf, calculating the cost of all of her items, "that's… one galleon and eight sickles for five, and then ten sickles each for the colored ones… so… one galleon and thirteen sickles for three bottles." She paused for a moment, "Three Galleons and four sickles for all of them." She declared, smiling to herself. The cost wasn't all that bad, thankful. She had plenty of money, really, that she'd saved up. Close to five hundred Galleons, which were hidden in her room for now until she could get to Diagon Alley. She'd taken about a hundred Galleons with her to the village, just in case.

In the end, all of the girls had bought something from the store. Rose and Cat had gotten their much needed supplies while the others had opted for new colors of inks and quills that they'd wanted. Cat had managed to sneak in a more expensive quill for Lily, one that wrote what it was told to. This was only the beginning of her shopping, however. She was going to have quite a few other things to pick up.

The next stop for them was Honeydukes, which Cat had to admit, she was more than happy to be going to. She'd run low on her chocolate stash long ago and now was the only time she'd really have to stock up for a while. She carefully looked at the prices of each item, adding the totals in her head once again. In the end she opted for twenty chocolate frogs, twenty packages of Chocoballs, five boxes of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, ten chocolate wands, one thing of Salt water Taffy, three packs of Jelly slugs and twenty five chocolate bars for seven galleons and five sickles. For most people, this would seem like an insane amount of candy, but this would last Cat quite a while. Well, that was if her friends didn't get into it all that time. Despite getting their own candy, they often saw Cat as there go to person for sweets.

Finally walking out, they had bags full of their sweets and goodies. Not to mention that they still had almost half an hour until Cat had to meet up with Sirius. Cat took this as a chance to stop by the local book store for a little bit and check in on the kind, old lady who owned it while picking up some books for her friend's presents. Cat had been there quite a few times and had become rather find of the older witch; she wanted to be sure that she was safe.

"Ah, Catalina, my dear. How wonderful to see you again! I was hoping you would stop by soon." A slightly plump woman with greying black hair greeted. Her bright blue eyes were cheerful and happy, despite the obvious kayos and gloom in the world.

"Hello, Sophia, dear." Cat greeted, hugging the woman gently, "Any new books?" She questioned, smiling at the thought.

"Just a few, they're on the new release shelf if you want to look at them." Lily took this as her que to go check them out as the rest of them split up.

"Do you have a copy of that book I owled you about for Rose?" Cat asked as her other girls scurried off to look through the shelves.

"Sure do, dear. Right under the counter. Just on second." The woman answered, slowly stepping around the door blocking the counter area from the rest of the store. She bent down for a second, shuffling through a few boxes before finally coming up, book in hand. "_Emma_, right, dear?" She questioned, receiving a nod in response as Cat went to get the money. "Just a gallon, Dear. It's an older copy. Muggle books are hard to get for me, anymore. So I only was able to get a rather older one."

"No." Cat shook her head, placing the three galleons they'd discussed on the counter, "As you said, Soph. Harder to come by, more money." She gave the woman a smile, shoving the book into one of her bags.

"I also have a few other things that I set aside for you that I managed to find. If you don't want them, I'm sure they'll sell fairly easily." She commented, "I grabbed these while I could; the store was closing down, due to an attack it'd had. So they'd had a sale." She placed two books titled _Pride and Prejudice _and _Sense and Sensibility_ upon the counter, "My Life as a Muggle, new one. I thought one of your pureblood friends might like it." She commented, placing the book on the counter, "The Tales of the Beatle and the Bard, for your Muggle born friends who never got a chance to see them," She placed a copy next to the others, "And lastly, Hairy Snout, Human Heart." Cat eyed this one, but deemed it decent for Remus.

She'd figured out his secret in second year, because of her upbringing. Her father had a rather strong hatred for werewolves, which Cat did not share. Cat was quick to assure Remus of this, not wanting him to think she saw any less of him. He was Remus Lupin, one of her friends. Sure, he was a monster once a month, but he was still Remus.

"I'll take all of them… six for both of the Muggle books, two for the new one, and one each for the other two?" She offered, receiving a nod and a smile from the older witch as she grabbed a bag to place her customer's items in.

"I knew you'd like them." Sophia replied cheerily as she placed them all in, taking the ten galleons from the young witch and handing her the bag.

"I really must be going, Sophia. But I will be back before Christmas." She said with a small smile, "I have a date at noon, and I shouldn't keep him waiting too long." She explained as her friends made their ways over with their chosen items. Sophia smiled knowingly, checking them out as Cat waited patiently for them to get ready to leave.

"Ready to go?" Lily questioned, looping their arms together as they made their way towards the door with their bags in hand.

"Yup." Cat chirped, preparing herself for the freezing cold as they ran their way for the Three Broomsticks. It was freezing and snowy, once again. Cat had never been so happy to get out of the cold in all of her life.

"Sirius!" She called, waving over to him as she made her way over to the table where she saw him sitting. He smiled slightly, but his smile dropped as he saw something outside and Cat was quick to turn around.

There was a loud bang outside, vibrating the whole pub and the area around it. Cat squealed, having to grab a table to keep herself and Lily up. She placed her bags on the table, drawing her wand and making her way for the outside where shouts and booms where coming from. She almost wished she hadn't opened the door to the pub when she saw what was going on outside of the doors. It was utter Kayos, spells being fired everywhere.

"Death Eaters!" She yelled to the occupants of the pub, not even thinking twice as she went out to help and fight them off.

AN: Cliff hanger. And I know, long wait. My cousin had to move I with us… he has a daughter and a pregnant wife and two pets. Not to mention my other cousin was visiting from the Canada. So it took a while. Lol Sorry. 3 The next one should be quicker, I promise. I hope you guys liked it!


	16. Just the Beginning of the War

Disclaimer: I, Devin Ebony, do not own the Harry potter Series. The only things in this story that I in anyway own Is Catalina and the majority of her family.

"Cat! Wait, you can't just run out there you git!" Lily yelled after her friend as the girl shoved her way into the fight, but it was useless. "Merlin help us." She groaned, running out after her with her wand at ready.

"Evans!" She heard someone shout, but she didn't have time and didn't care to look back and see who it was. The village was under attack and they needed to do something to help. They couldn't all hide.

"Cat, the kid!" Lily shouted as she tried to make some sense out of the battle. There were people running everyone, spells being dodged, but the one thing that Lily cared about most was the little girl who had plastered herself up to the wall in terror. Her big, blue eyes were filled with terror as she saw everything that was happening around her. Cat's gaze flicked to the girl after she dodged another spell, and she nodded her head towards Lily, signaling that she would get the child.

"Come on, sweetie. Let's get you to somewhere more safe… in a store or something, you can hide." Cat whispered as she scooped the little girl up in her arms, keeping her close to her in case any spells were aimed in their direction. She looked around, cautiously, before she took off running across the street to the Three Broomsticks to lead the girl in and have her hide.

"Cat! Watch out!" She heard a terrified voice call out, alerting her of a spell that had been heading right at her. It whizzed passed her head as she ducked, finally making it into the pub. Inside, there were already others. The ones already wounded, the ones to young, the ones to old, or the ones otherwise incapable had be lead in. Cat gently tried to sit the girl down to return outside, but she refused to let go.

"I want to find my mummy." She cried, tears filling her eyes as she pleaded. Cat shook her head with a grimace, managing to unlatch the girl's arms from around her neck.

"I'll find her, okay. Just tell me her name and I'll try." Cat reasoned, keeping her from trying to go back out.

"Emily Hayes" The girl whispered reluctantly, heading further into the pub with an unsure look on her face. Cat nodded, running back out into the heat of the battle. She knew she wouldn't be able to do anything until after the battle, though, and she felt bad for getting the girl's hopes up.

In the not even three minutes that she'd been gone, the number of Death Eaters in the village had more than doubled. It was a full on battle now, not just one of the small attacks that had been happening. They'd known that a lot of the older students would be in Hogsmeade, shopping around. This was the closest that they could get to attacking the actual school.

"Sectumsempra!" Cat flinched when she heard that spell, not sure where she'd heard it before, but positive that she didn't want to be on the other end of that spell.

"PROTEGO!" Cat shouted as a spell that she didn't recognize came flying her way, "Stupefy!" Cat: One Death Eaters: zero.

"Everte Statum!" A deep voice bellowed, sending Cat flying before she could dodge it, slamming her into a building.

"Bloody hell!" Cat screamed, jumping up once again, throwing up another shield charm in an attempt to stop the curse that was hurtling towards her. Two others had joined the one who'd attacked her, she noticed, and most of the other people were tied up with multiple death eaters as well. It was all too much for her as she dodged spells left and right, sent her own spells flying around the village, and prayed none of her friends were in too much trouble. During her battle, a spell came hurtling from somewhere to her right, knocking her to the ground with a horrendous pain in her gut. She fell to her knees, tears falling as she suddenly got sick; pure blood was what she saw.

Cat, at that moment, thought she was done for. Even the Death Eaters she'd been fighting with had walked away from her, continuing to fight others. The pain wasn't going away, either, and she felt as if she was going to get sick once again. She was too preoccupied with her pain to notice one of the death eaters approaching her, wand drown.

"Idiot girl." She heard a deep voice snap, the man waving his wand simply to stop the curse she'd been under, "I told you what would happen, Catalina. Continue to defy me, and this will continue to happen. This is the only time I will save you."

"You worthless, slimy, git!" Cat roared, hopping up with her wand drawn once she realized just who it was, but her father had already disappeared into the crowd. Cat growled in frustration, but didn't waste any more time in finding her friends to help them with their battles.

"Expelliarmus!" Cat bellowed as she came up on Lily and Dorcas, who had been corned by no less than five death eaters. This took their attention of the two girls for just a few seconds to turn on Cat, but that few seconds was their downfall. In just the few seconds that it took for them to turn, Rose and Lily had disarmed two more of them and proceeded to stun them. This evened them out, leaving them with a battle of two against two.

"Rose!" Cat called out as she saw the girl fall, under the effects of a stunner as two tall men approached her fallen form, "Stay away from her! Everte Statum!" She bellowed, using the spell that had flung her across the street to throw one of the men. She obviously hadn't thought this all the way through as the other man turned to her, wand raised.

"Crucio!" He shouted, but she dodged, praying that it hit no one as she ran forward a bit, trying to get closer to this man and Rose.

"Explliarmus!" Cat fired back, but her spell was blocked easily, "STUPEFY!" She tried in vain.

"Incarcerous! Silencio" The man bellowed, binding Cat. A cold laugh rang through the air as he turned to Rose, who was now slowly regaining consciousness.

"CRUCIO!" He shouted, hitting Rose Square in the chest. Cat bit her lip, squeezing her eyes tight against the screams of the other girl as she tried to force her way out of the rope. The tormenting went on for what felt like ages, but in reality was only a matter of three minutes. "Now that your friend has felt the effects… why don't we see how you enjoy it?" The cruel voice laughed, turning the wand towards Cat.

Cat felt her eyes widen as she struggled more frantically. Only twice that she remembered had she ever had the unforgivable used on her. Once, for disobeying her father when she was seven and he was having a party. Her mother had stopped him, luckily, but he had already done his damage. She felt the curse once more at the hands of Larisa's father, Dmitri, when she was fifteen for refusing to stay at home for the summer as her father had requested. Neither times had been pleasant and she definitely wasn't looking forward to getting hit by that spell again anytime soon.

"Cruci-" The man began, just as Cat had managed to free herself and pull her wand once again, but it wasn't her who had sent the spell. She looked up in surprise to see that two people had hit the man with stunners; one being Sirius Black, and the other being her younger brother. Getting over her surprise, Cat removed the rest of the rope around herself and crawled over to where Rose had fallen into unconsciousness again.

"Go." She yelled to the two boys, pulling Rose off the ground, "I got it. I'm going to get her to The Three Broomsticks with the other wounded so she doesn't get any further injuries." She called, managing to pull the dead weight of the girl in the general direction of the Pub. The weight was lifted off of her by her brother, who continued in the direction of the pub.

"Just go on, get somewhere safe, Cat! You're not going to be able to carry her and defend yourself at the same time, Catalina. She's bigger than you and its dead weight. Just get yourself safe and out of the battle." Vlad yelled over the noise, hoisting her friend up into his arms. Cat nodded quietly, turning back to observe the battle.

The intensity of the battle was all too shocking. Spells were still flying as quickly as they had since the beginning, the wounded barely taking a toll on the spirits of either side. This was something that Cat wanted to change by taking on more death eaters. While this might not have seemed like the smartest thing to continue doing, considering they were fully trained adults who used dark magic and had almost used an unforgivable curse on her, it was the only way she could think of to stop them. She ran head first back into the battle, not caring what she'd told her brother.

Aurors had finally begun arriving on the scene, giving extra help to the struggling villagers and students. Some of the Death eaters, in fear of being arrested, had fled, but still the brave ones stayed. It was still to many for them to fight equally, even with the help of the aurors. So many of their side had already been wound, much more than had been on the other side. In the midst of everything, Cat was battling one on one with a rather skilled duelist, her concentration on nothing but him. That was until there was a scream of pure agony and terror that came from The Three Broomsticks. That single second of distraction was enough time for her attacker to send a possibly life altering curse flying towards her. Fortunately for her, two rather large bodies knocked into her, sending the three of them flying to the ground as aurors got a hold of the one who had sent the green light flying towards her.

"Merlin… My head…" Cat groaned, sitting up and looking around dazedly. Most of the death Eaters had either disapparated or been caught.

"Your head?" A voice snapped, causing Cat to look startled as she looked up to see her younger brother sitting on the ground next to her, "I told you to get out of here, not fight them some more! You almost got hit with that stupid Cruciatus curse, AGAIN. Then you almost got hit by the killing curse. You're lucky the worst that happened was you hit your head." He hissed, looking dangerously angry. "He sent the killing curse at you cat, you do realize how close you were to dying, right? It missed you by less than an inch. You're just lucky that Black and I knocked in you out of the way as fast as we did." His voice was slowly becoming calmer, "Think of what Michael would have done to you if he'd seen you put yourself in the middle of danger like that?" Cat resisted the urge to roll his eyes, and instead opted to try and stand up.

"Bloody hell!" She screeched, a sharp pain shooting through her leg as she weight on her leg.

"Careful, Kitty." A kinder and calmer voice called, grabbing a hold of her arm as they stood up from the ground beside her, "You probably broke something. I mean, you had your brother and me land on you, its highly likely, considering we're both bigger than you. You're lucky that you didn't break more than just a part of your leg."

"Oh, well." Cat shrugged, "Better than being dead, I suppose." She winced at the thought of it, "But where did that scream come from that distracted me?"

"Rose." Sirius said simply, "Her mum was here working in one of the little stores that her father owns. She… she didn't make it." Cat nodded numbly, ready to just get back to Hogwarts.

It was like she said. They all had to be grateful that no one in their families had been killed by Death Eaters, _yet._ That no longer stood true, though. The reality was that they were all in danger, their families were in danger, their friends, they themselves, were in danger. They could only pray that Voldemort would fall soon, but that obviously wasn't going to happen anytime soon.

"Let's go see Rose before we go anywhere else…" Cat whispered, wanting to try and be at least some comfort to her obviously distraught friend, "We need to make sure she's okay, because we need to all be strong. This was obviously just the beginning what we're going to see in the next few years." She declared her voice grim. The look on Sirius' face showed that he wholly agreed with her on that

AN: The beginning of the real action that will come in the story. Next chapter should be up soon enough. ^_^ Hope this one is okay. Review and tell me what you liked/didn't like, so I can try and keep the story to everyone's likes.


	17. The Girls are Always up to Something

Disclaimer: I, Devin Ebony, do not own the Harry potter Series. The only things in this story that I in anyway own Is Catalina and the majority of her family.

Over the next weeks before Christmas Cat had ended up spending more time with Rose MacDougal than she'd planned on. It was hard not to spend a lot of time with her, though. Cat was the only one who had lost a parent, minus Mary. Mary wasn't one who was comfortable with mourning or mourning people, though. Not to mention that while Mary had loved her step dad, she had only known him for about four years and she'd been at Hogwarts for most of the time. That was nothing compared to losing the woman who had been there for you for more than sixteen years. Cat could relate to this; even though her mother wasn't always been the greatest, she had loved the woman. Her mother had taken care of her, played with her, loved her, and protected her from everyone, even her own father.

So that was how Rose and Cat ended up spending most of the next two weeks, minus meals and classes, hidden in the dorms or somewhere on the grounds together. It made Cat feel kind of bad, really, as she was pretty much neglecting Lily; Rose needed her more then, though. Lily understood, she was sure of it. If she had issues Lily would ask her about it.

"What plans do you have for Christmas?" Rose asked one day as she and Cat were taking a walk near the black lake, looking over the sheets of ice that now covered the lake.

"Nothing, really, I guess." Cat replied glumly, "I mean, you know how my family is…." She trailed off, she hadn't told anyone about her dad yet, not even Lily. "I saw my dad that night at Hogsmeade. Really, he's the only reason I didn't die from blood loss. He's still one of them, though. I can't go back there, no matter what. Mike is getting his own place this summer, and he's already said I can come once he gets settled in. He's even said that Vlad could come if he wanted to." She shrugged, unsure of what she was going to do, "The Evans family invited me over. I feel bad going over to their house all the time, though, and imposing on them." Rose chuckled and shook her head.

"Lily says you are practically part of the family. I'm sure Mrs. and Mr. Evans would love having you over." Rose assured her, "There is a reason I was asking, though. All three of my older brothers are all going home, so I'm going to have to go to. They are all bringing a friend with them, because they want to try and cheer my dad up with company. He's not used to being so alone… all he has is my seven year old sister. So I was wondering if you could come with me?" Rose asked quickly, "I mean, I could ask Alice, but she's going to Frank's. Dorcas doesn't get along with one of my brother, and it wouldn't be a good idea. Lily, Marlene, or Mary would be fine, but they all have their own families to go to-" She tried explaining in a rush, but Cat cut her off with a small smile.

"It's fine!" She exclaimed, "You don't have to explain to me, Rose. I'll come with you, Rosie. You can count on me." She assured her friend, "Besides, it will be nice to meet your brothers. The way you talk about them, they all sound like sweethearts."

"You're sure?" Rose questioned worriedly, "You don't think it will be too awkward for you or anything? I don't want you to feel awkward or out of place or-" She was interrupted in her ramblings by Cat's quiet chuckle.

"Rose Aurora MacDougal, I swear to Merlin…" Cat exclaimed, jokingly, but smiled at her friend, "We leave in two days, Rose. So if you don't mind… I think I should go up t the dorm and figure out what I'm going to pack and then send McGonagall a note so she knows I'm leaving."

"Of course, of course. If you don't mind, though, I'll be staying out here for a little while longer." Rose replied, brushing some hair out of her face with the ghost of a smile on her face, "Remember to pack at least one nice dress. Knowing dad, he might force us into one part or fancy dinner at some point."

"Sure. No worries… I'm used to that. I'll see you later on tonight then, Rosie." Cat shouted over her shoulder as she jogged back towards the castle and to the Gryffindor common room.

The last two weeks had gone rather fast since the 'Battle of Hogsmeade', as the fight had been deemed. Cat had to admit, even with all the sorrow, the happiness at the upcoming holiday still lingered somewhat for everyone. She was happy, for one, to be able to give all of her friends any presents she had managed to get and keep hidden from them. Plus, there were no classes. What student wouldn't be a little bit happy about that?

Making it to the dorms, she was happy to see that it was completely empty for now. It would be easier or her that way, without any distractions. She hadn't had much time to talk lately, so if the others were up there, they'd surely want to talk. Cat being Cat, she would have stopped to talk and completely forgot to pack and then she'd have to pack at the last minute. Last minute packing wasn't one of her strong points, though. She always rushed and packed the wrong clothes, forgot to pack important things, and had a huge mess in her bag that barely would fit.

Ripping her trunk open, it was obvious that this year had been one of her last minute packing years. Her clothes were wild an unorganized, everything was hard to find. It was like a bomb had gone off inside of the trunk and scattered its contents all around the inside. Groaning, she pulled everything out in an attempt to clean it up a bit. With a wave of her wand, all of her books and school things were organized into two neat stacks. That took care of maybe an eight of the problem, if that.

The next problem was her clothing, which she had a lot of now that she'd had her other trunk full of stuff. Luckily she had been able to charm her trunk to have more room for storage, or it would be much worse than it was. With another simple charm, all of her clean uniforms were place in the trunk and folded into another neat stack. One more charm had all of her spring and summer time wardrobe taken care of and organized.

"Thank Merlin. Now I just need to go through this mess." Cat sighed, digging through her piled of clothes on her bed and picking out enough clothes to last her the two weeks of the holidays. Six or so outfits, plus the dress Rose had asked her to bring, she supposed, would do for the break. She quickly summoned her smaller, lighter traveling trunk from underneath her bed to begin packing her clothing. It had always come in handy when she needed it with its light weight and endless space from all the spells on it.

Cat had always been the simpler of her friends when it came to clothing, and she'd always taken the least time to pick out outfits. Mary and Marlene were usually the ones that forced her into dresses, skirts, heels, and more stuff. She, however, only packed what she needed. The six outfits, mainly jeans and some kind of top, and a pair of shoes that Mary had gotten her from America (she believed they were called converse or something like that, but couldn't remember) were piled in. The outfits were quickly followed by a white dress and heels to match that her mother had gotten her for a dinner a year ago. With another wave of her wand, Cat performed the charm that she'd recently used once more and put away the remaining clothing in neat stacks.

The only thing that she had to do now was get the presents that she'd gotten for her friends. She didn't have time to do that, however as her friends all busted into the dorm. It wasn't like she could pull them out in front of them, even with them wrapped. They were all too antsy and snoopy. There was no way that Cat was going to let them have any idea where the presents were hidden at.

"What are you doing?" Marlene questioned concernedly as she watched her friend pack her things in to the travel trunk, "Thought you were staying at Hogwarts this Christmas! You can't go home, Kitty."

"I'm not going home, you twat! I'm going with Rose to her house." She explained, "I was just packing up a few outfits and things when you came in. "

"Did you pack our presents yet?" Mary questioned excitedly, practically jumping on her friend to try and get a peek.

"Not going to happe-" Cat began to announce with a grin, but her face fell as Mary dove for under her bed. "Mary Elizabeth MacDonald! Get out from under my bed, you prat!" Cat squealed, stopping her friend in her attempt to find the gifts she'd hidden.

"You're no fun, Kitty! Just a peek!" She whined, pouting like a small child who had just been scolded.

"Save the pouts for someone they will work on, Mary." Cat warned, smirking at her child like friend.

"I will find out…" Mary challenged her, "Tonight, or tomorrow! I swear I will!" Cat raised an eyebrow at her friend as she laughed manically, sounding quite deranged. What she didn't realize, though, was that it was a distraction to give Mary time to grab something from under Cat's bed and make a run for it.

"GET BACK HERE WITH THAT, MARY!" Cat screamed, chasing the giggling blonde on to the steps with Lily and Marlene close behind.

Cat nearly caught Mary and almost caught a glimpse of what she had grabbed when the stairs began to change. Suddenly, there was a slide rather than stairs. Cat let out a yelp as she landed on her back, falling with Mary on top of her. With a great clatter, Marlene and Lily both toppled to a stop at the bottom of the stairs, on top of Mary. Whom also happened to still be on top of Cat. With a loud groan, Cat glanced over at the smirking culprit and attempted to free herself from the mess she was in

"I hate you more than anything in the world right now, James Potter." She hissed, letting out groans of pain as the taller girls all tried to get themselves up off of her.

"I have no comment to that, my dear Cat." He replied with obvious amusement, "But I do have one question… why were you all chasing Mary for a bra?" Cat felt her face heat up as she glared at the blonde. If looks could kill, Mary Macdonald would have died six times by now.

"Scratch that, I hate one thing more than James." Cat grumbled, grabbing her bra from her friend, "Of all the things she could have grabbed… the heck was that doing….even want to know? Swear to Merlin…" She stalked of, muttering incoherent words to herself.

"Well…" James paused, a huge grin plastered on his face"This is why I love being in Gryffindor. The girls are always up to something interesting."

AN: I really hated killing of Rose's mum so close to Christmas. :\ My mum died four days before Christmas on the 21 in 2009, so I know how stressful those situations can be… So I felt bad, even though to most people it seems silly since she is a character I'm writing about and not a living person. I still know how that tears at a family, though. :\

Sorry it took a while. I was kind of… upset with the Aurora shootings and sick. So I just slept most of Friday and Today.


	18. Going to be an Interesting Break

Disclaimer: I, Devin Ebony, do not own the Harry potter Series. The only things in this story that I in anyway own Is Catalina and the majority of her family.

Those two days that were leading up to the time that they left felt like practically nothing. Early Saturday morning, Cat was waking up to get dressed and get on down to Hogsmeade train station. Unfortunately for her, this meant that Rose was going to wake her up at six in the morning to double check that she had everything and rush her to get ready so that they could be done before all the other girls and have no chance of being late. Much to Rose's horror, though, Cat managed to go back to sleep for half an hour while she had gone to the bathroom to take her own shower. This little fact had resulted in a rather powerful charm to drench Cat with water. Now that Cat thought about it, she didn't get why she hadn't noticed how alike to Lily that Rose was. She was bookish, proper, a little bossy and high-strung, and slightly insane; just like the great Ms. Lillianna Evans was.

"Alright, alright!" Cat grumbled, "Don't get your knickers in a twist, Rosie. I'm done now." Cat retorted to her friend's rants, exiting the bathroom in her jeans and sweater, her hair still wet and thrown up in a messy bun.

"Great." Rose chirped, grabbing a hold of her trunk to lug down to breakfast. They didn't plan on heading back up to the tower before they left, so they would have to drag them with them.

"Wait." Cat protested, turning to her own trunk and pulling out her wand, "Reducio." She muttered, shrinking the trunk into a much smaller object before stuffing it in her pocket, "You can undo it once we get to your house, Rosie. You're of age." She reminded the brunette before she could protest, chuckling slightly. "If I were you, I'd do it to. So much easier than carrying that huge thing." She joked, smiling lightly at her friend.

"Okay, okay." Rose pulled her own wand out and shrank her luggage, "Now… To breakfast!" She announced, leaving the other girls in the dorm, minus Lily (Who had gotten up at five) scrambling around to get ready.

"TO BREAKFAST!" Cat shouted in agreement, running down the steps close on Rose's heels.

"Wait for me!" Lily shouted as she jumped off the couch in the common room when the two girls went running passed. Finally catching up, she crouched slightly, preparing to spring, and landed right on Cat's back.

"Geez, Lily, you weight a ton!" Cat complained jokingly, carrying the girl on her back out of the common room.

"Merlin, last night you all showed us Cat's bra and now you're using her as a horse…" Remus chuckled as he exited the portrait hole behind them, dragging a rather exhausted looking James, Peter, and Sirius along with him. "She's stronger than she looks." He noted as he watched her walk as if it was completely normal to have another girl on her back.

"She better be." James finally spoke up, grinning broadly, "She's one of our Star Chasers, behind me, that is!" He announced proudly.

"I think someone needs an ego Deflation..."Cat commented with a smirk, "What do you think, Lily?" She questioned, stopping and allowing the girl to jump back on the ground.

"When it concerns that git, I always believe that he could use an Ego deflation." Lily stated bluntly, not sparing the boy's feelings a bit. Cat chuckled, throwing an arm around her best friend's and turning to give James a smirk.

"Still hates you, Jamie, my boy." She announced, "To bad… you would be such an adorable couple…" She trailed off, Lily Suddenly removing her arm from its previous spot.

"Shut up, Cat, or I swear…" Cat only grinned broadly at this threat, a gleam appearing in her eyes.

"Lillianna Paige Evans…. Lillianna Paige Potter…. That sounds perfect!" Cat shouted, dodging Lily's hand as she attempted to smack her upside the head.

"Don't call me Lillianna, Catalina!" She roared, "AND NEVER PUT MY NAME WITH POTTER AGAIN! I think my ears are bleeding from hearing that."

"Don't call me Catalina, Lillianna!" Cat shouted back, her mouth stretching into an even broader grin, "LILLIANNA POTTER! LILLIANNA POTER!" Cat screamed, running down the corridor and down the steps towards the great hall at top speed. With a groan, Lily chased after her, leaving Rose and the marauders behind.

"You know," Rose began jokingly, "Sometimes I wonder why I'm friends with them… I mean… they're insane…." she paused for dramatic effect, "Then I realize that I'm equally as insane." She finished with a shrug, "Shall we go down to breakfast together, fine gentlemen?" She questioned, grabbing a hold of Remus ' and James' arms before forcing them to skip the rest of the way to the great hall with her, singing muggle songs loudly and off key.

The Great hall was usually fairly quiet this early in the morning. The only people who came down this early were usually the quiet, more studious students. So having two screaming and running redheads followed by three skipping students wasn't a typical occurrence for the people in the Great hall at the time, as was obvious by their facial expression. It only got more shocking for them as, with a battle cry like scream, Lily Evans launched herself at Catalina Rostov, pinning her to the ground.

"I surrender! I surrender!" Cat screamed, holding her arms up in defense as she cowered back slightly, away from Lily.

"Victory!" Lily exclaimed, jumping off of her friend to take a spot a the Gryffindor table, next to a nice sized plate of fresh bacon.

"You better leave me some of that Bacon, Lily Evans, or I swear…" Rose warned as she ran over, jumping in to the seat next to her and piling her own plate full of bacon.

"Thank Merlin that I didn't want much bacon!" Cat exclaimed, sitting on the other side of Lily and reaching over to snatch a few pieces of bacon off of the plate before it could be devoured by the girls and the marauders. Before Cat was done with her plates, she'd had a medium stack of Chocolate Chip and butterscotch pancakes, bacon, sausage, eggs, and a small muffin.

"Wow. Now I know what Marlene meant about Cat being the eater of the group…" Rose commented with a mutter, "You're going to fit right in with my brothers and sister. All of them could eat enough for three people and still be hungry."

"Hey, we're not that bad, Rosie." A tall boy with unruly, auburn hair shouted, coming up and hugging Rose from behind. The girl gave a yelp, lifting up off of her seat slightly before he dropped her again.

"This is Liam, my older brother. He's a Ravenclaw" Rose introduced once she finally caught her breath after the tight hug, "He's my half-brother, different mums. My baby sister, Logan, is the only one who has the same mum as me." She interrupted before anyone could mention how unalike they looked.

"Oi!" Cat shrieked suddenly, jumping up as one of the first years knocked over a jug of pumpkin juice all over her, "For Merlin's sake…" She muttered, waving her wand and cleaning herself, the first year, and the puddle of juice all over the place. "Calm down, kid. I'm not going to kill you. It was accident, no big deal." She remarked once she noticed the terrified look on the terrified little boy's face.

"Nice to meet you, Liam." Cat greeted, turning back to her friends as she sat back down in her seat, "I'm Catalina Rostov, but I usually go by Cat or Kitty."

"You're Mike's baby sister?" He questioned confusedly, turning and lightly hitting his sister upside of the head, "You couldn't have told me that it was one of my best friend's little sisters that you invited?" He asked jokingly, making a face as Rose stuck her tongue out at him.

"Shut up. You still haven't told me who you're bringing, either!" Rose shot back, poking him in the side.

"I'm bringing Daniel Brookes with us." He announced, motioning over towards the Ravenclaw table where the tall boy was sitting.

Groaning, Cat put her head down on the table. This was certainly going to be an interesting holiday if she and Daniel had to be near each other. It was no secret that they couldn't stand each other; Especially not after the last Gryffindor against Ravenclaw quidditch game, where he had thrown is bad towards her head and knocked off her broom and to the ground. She'd been in the hospital wing for nearly a week before madam Pomfrey had let her out.

"Oh!" Rose exclaimed, standing up quickly, "We should get going, Liam." She explained, "The train leave in about thirty minutes, but if we want to find a compartment for ourselves, we need to hurry."

"Well… This is going to be one interesting break." Cat muttered to herself as she stood up, following glumly behind her friend.

AN: Short because I'm doing another chapter either tonight or tomorrow, hopefully. This one was more of a filler thing.

For now on, I'm going to ask questions in my ANs, kind of like polls. Just Review with your answers. ^_^ There will be questions to receive some opinions on what I should do with certain things in the story. I won't promise to do everything you guys suggest, but I am going to take your opinions into consideration. The questions:

A student of Hogwarts dying over holidays at the hands of Death Eaters: Yes/No

Vlad as Death Eater: Yes/No

Cat finding another love interest, other than Sirius and making it more of a love triangle: Yes/No (If yes, you can suggest someone of your own choice).

Rose/Remus or Remus/Mary, who do you think sounds more compatible so far?

A fight between Daniel and Cat at some point during the holidays? Yes/no

Feel free to add any comments you want. ^_^


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